No Man's Land
by emma louve
Summary: What starts off as an innocent prank eventually turns into something much bigger. Tifa and Yuffie sneak into the abandoned Shinra Mansion only to find that it's not quite as abandoned as they thought. TifaXRufus hints of YuffieXVincent
1. Making Deals With The Devil

**Sorry for the boring beginning! I promise that things will get better in the later chapters! In the mean time, PLEASE review! And no flamers please! **

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I frowned as I tapped my pencil on my desk impatiently. I glanced at the clock that hung from the plain, beige wall and sighed happily when I saw how much time I had left. _Only five minutes left _I thought reassuringly to myself. I leaned my chin against my hand which was propped against the old wooden desk that looked prepared to give out under me. Aerith shot me a sidelong glance before whispering "What's with the long face Tifa, you know, besides this class…you've been like this all day…did something happen?".

My frown deepened seeing as how she was right, like always. Something _did_ happen. And it was something big. But this wasn't just _any_ something I could just go ahead and announce with other students around with their nosy, listening ears close by. No, I would half to tell her later, of course, that was assuming I had the guts to bring it up.

Technically, it wasn't really my fault… only technically though. I mean _technically _it was my idea…sort of. More of a thought really. It doesn't really count as an idea if you don't plan on putting it into action, right? Still, that's beside the point. I _did_ tell her and so now I would pay the price. The second the idea, excuse me, _thought_ came out of my mouth, I regretted it. Rightfully so. Now, Yuffie and I were going to do it. We are going to sneak into the creepy old Shinra Mansion.

Even if the damn thing was supposedly abandoned, it was so freaky! But I suppose that was _why_ it was freaky. I mean it was abandoned! It looked like nobody has lived in there for at least 10 years! In reality, nobody has lived there in like a year and a half. The Shinra family moved out of _that_ mansion and moved to a bigger one somewhere nicer I'm sure. Stupid rich bastards.

I suppose that was the only good news out of this whole thing. The Shinras wouldn't be around to catch us at there house! It would be _impossible_ to even consider going near there if the Shinras were still around. Well then again, anything is impossible if you are _dead_. Yea, that's right; Yuffie and I would be _dead_ if we got caught. But I suppose that's what got her going. Apparently she more into near death experiences than I thought.

I sighed again, this time a little louder. Mrs. Lofter the Biology teacher looked back and raised her eyebrows at me before returning to the whiteboard and continuing her lesson about the heart, or something like that. Aerith merely shook her head in a disapproving way. She opened her mouth to say something, most likely pose a question or two about my bad mood but was cut off by the bell.

While other students got out of their chairs slowly and sluggishly and picked up their books or talked to their friends or fellow classmates, I jumped out of my seat, grabbed all of my books, and sprinted out of the classroom. I needed to get out of there pronto. I only had a few minutes to pack up my backpack and start running home before Yuffie caught up to me.

It's not that I don't like Yuffie, in fact, she's my best friend. But it seems like that's the problem. She's my friend and apparently 'friends do things for friends' and therefore, if one friend gets in deep shit, so does the other. I'm already regretting saying that I would go with her. But that's how it always is with her. It's like making a deal with the devil, it never works out so good for the other person.

As I threw all of my books into my bag as quickly as possible I felt a tap on my shoulder and then heard the familiar high pitched voice of my best friend "Hey Tifa! You ready for tonight??!?!? I can't wait! I can't stop thinking about! I'm so psyched!" Yuffie jumped up and down while she chattered away, obviously to excited to stand still. I grimaced. Oh yea, I was excited alright, especially since the activity I decided to participate in was practically a death march.

I finished getting my books together and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I crouched down and searched under the cluttered papers and fallen books to try to find my pink lock. I stuck my hand towards the back of the bottom shelf knowing it was probably stuffed back there somehow. "Aha!" I quickly exclaimed as my hand grasped the lock. Yuffie tapped her foot impatiently while I quickly hooked the lock onto my locker after closing it.

Yuffie grinned widely at me revealing a row of straight white teeth. "Do _not_ look at me like that" I groaned. If she thought that she was going to bring up our 'after school activity' _again_, I might half to hit her up side the head. "Yuffie don't talk about it, I was just starting to forget about it" I pleaded her with big eyes that I knew had no effect on her whatsoever. "Oh quit your whining! Oh, and can we go now, because we have a lot to do, and a little time to do it!" Yuffie demanded with one hand on her hip and her hand pointed at the door.

Usually I would I have laughed at Yuffie's constant use of her hands while talking but today, I couldn't even think about being happy when such a horrid event was to occur tonight. What if we got caught? Did she realize how much trouble we would actually be in? Was she even processing that minor factor? Maybe I could talk some sense into her on the way home.

"Yea we can go now" I said while walking towards the two wooden doors. Yuffie and I made our way through the huge crowd of high schoolers until we got to the doors that were acting like a funnel. I shoved through them, probably knocking down a kid or two with my full backpack, but I got outside alright. I took a gulp of fresh October air and relaxed a little. The cool air cleared my head and relieved some stress.

I looked back at the mob for the familiar short black spikey hair. I glanced around again. "Oh god, I haven't even gotten out of the building and I've already lost her" I muttered. I felt my forehead crease as she remained missing. Where the hell was she?

Suddenly I was poked on either side of my sides and I squealed loudly. I flipped around with my arms protectively wrapped around my stomach as I searched for the obvious suspect. Yuffie. She was giggling loudly and looking down at her orange keds. "I'll----race you home!" by the time she had shouted that back over her shoulder she had already taken off. "Wha- oh come on! Not fair! You got a head start" I shouted after her as I sprinted as fast as I could up the sidewalk that wound its way up to a dirt road that would eventually curve its way around to my house.

By the time I finally caught up to Yuffie we were both panting. She grinned at me when she saw me bending over with my hands on my knees catching my breath. "Still…not…as…fast as…me…" she gasped in-between breaths. I stood back up before pulling a face "Right, I mean, it's not like I just caught up to you even after you got a head start. No, nothing like that." I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes. "Yea yea yea" Yuffie puffed out her chest and flexed her arms "You're just jealous because I'm faster and more buff". I burst out laughing and her chest deflated as she began to laugh along with me.

We walked up to Brooking Lane where the sidewalk ended and took a left onto the dirt path that led into dense woods. I was used to this path seeing as how I traveled it everyday. I lived in an old little house tucked way in the back. I didn't really have any neighbors to worry about or anything but sometimes I got lonely…or creeped out. But hey can you blame me?!? I mean these woods are freaky at night if you're by yourself!

I had been living by myself for about a year or so since my dad passed away and since my mom left when I was five. It sucks at times because as much as people think that it must be awesome living without parents; it's not as great as they make it out to be. No mom to nag me and yell when I come home late. No dad to stare down my date before a dance. And as annoying as those things may seem, I would _kill_ for them.

Yuffie shuddered next to me, interrupting my thoughts "What?" I asked her in a somewhat demanding tone. The woods seemed calm and peaceful enough and she obviously wasn't afraid of going to the Shinra Mansion tonight, so what could she _possibly_ be scared of? "You aren't getting any last minute doubts are you?" I wondered with a teasing grin, but we both knew I was hoping, more like _praying_, that she would change her mind about this whole thing.

"Of course not!" Yuffie exclaimed "I was just thinking about how if we did get caught then these woods would probably be a good place to hide…" she didn't really finish her thought, but she didn't half to. "Why? Do you think we are going to get caught!?" I demanded frantically. The last thing I needed was to get in some sort of trouble with the local cops. "No, no, just an errant thought. Really!" assured Yuffie. "Yea yea yea" I quoted Yuffie in her ringing voice.

I looked at the woods trying to calm myself. My stupid stomach felt like it was doing a combination of an areal and three summersaults all at once. "Yuffie-" I started but was abruptly cut off by Yuffie and her tingling voice saying "OH no! Don't even start! You agreed to go with me! We have a deal! Besides it was _your_ idea!" I groaned. "Please don't remind me" I muttered hating myself for even thinking of the whole stupid ordeal.

I kicked a small rock that was sitting on the path, sending it skidding ahead. I glanced up to see the wooden porch of my house. Two old pillars held the roof high above the porch. A railing went around the whole thing except for where the stairs were. Large stones had been placed to lead you from the path to the front porch. Although the path continued, I had never followed it all the way down. I had followed it up to Stone Rock River but had never felt the need to go any farther. I didn't particularly care where it went honestly.

I walked ahead of Yuffie up to the stairs to the front door. I dropped my backpack on the porch and pulled the necklace that hung around my neck out from under my white uniform shirt. I used the silver key that hung from it to open the front door. I reached down and grabbed my backpack, groaning when I felt how heavy it was, and shoved the door open with my shoulder. Once inside I walked into the hallway which opened up to reveal two staircase and four doorways. I walked down to the end of the hallway and into the kitchen. It was small, but cozy.

There was a small family picture hanging on the wall of my dad, mom, and I from when I was about 4. My mom was wearing a beautiful white dress with one hand on my head and the other in my father's. He had his arm snaked around her waist with a grin on his face while looking at her instead of the camera. It was sad to look at it really.

Yuffie walked into with a pad of paper and a pencil. "Ooookkay, sooo I was thinking _all_ today about what we're going to need!" I looked at her with raised eyebrows "Oh yea, and what would that be? I am going to give you a budget you know. I know how you are" I laughed. Yuffie rolled her eyes "Yea yea yea."

Well, in the end we ended up with a…well _interesting _list to say the least. After about 30 minutes of laughing, eating, and constant arguing about what should _really_ go on the list, we finally came up with something that could resemble a decent list.

List of Stuff

Flashlight

All Black outfit (I'm thinking black underarmer and tights hehe)

A rope (hey, you never know!)

Gloves (they'll look cute with the outfit)

Candles and matches (you know, we ARE going to an abandoned mansion we might as well try to call forth evil spirits. Lol)

Digital camera (HELLOO we are going to need proof we went)

Pocketknife (you can never be too sure)

Um, a pack of cookies, you know, just in case

I read the list over again squinting every now and then because it was hard to read Yuffie's chickenscratch. I sighed loudly "Yuffie, we're bringing candles and matches because you want to do _VOODOO_?!?!?!" I exclaimed exasperated. I rubbed my temples. We were trying NOT to get caught and I didn't want to waste any time in there. It was bad enough that Yuffie insisted that we take pictures (if we were caught it could be used as evidence against us!) but now she wanted to dilly-dally about with _voodoo?_ Was she crazy or was it just me?

I opened my mouth to whine but was cut short by my ringing cell phone. I reached over and picked up my thin silver razor and flipped it open. "Hello?" Yuffie gave me an inquisitive look questioning who was on the other line. "Hey Teef!" Cloud, I mouthed back to Yuffie and she nodded "Yuff-I mean I randomly heard that you were sneaking into Shinra mansion tonight…" My eyes narrowed slowly at Yuffie. "Uh, hang on for a sec. Cloud"

I muted the phone and then started yelling at Yuffie "Are you absolutely NUTS?!?!? Who else did you tell?!?! We CANNOT get caught! If I have the cops on my ass that will _not_ be good!" Yuffie put her hands up in a surrendering motion before saying "Only Cloud and Zack" I groaned mentally. "Yuffie! Is it sooo much to ask that you just keep your big fat mouth shut for like a day?" Yuffie bit her lip to hide her grin and failed… epically. I practically hit my head on the wall. Oh well, Yuffie's lecture could wait, I had to see what Cloud wanted first.

I unmuted him and then spoke calmly into the phone "Sorry Cloud, what were you saying?"

"Oh, no problem. Just heard that you were headin' to the Shinra's mansion tonight…I wanted to …warn you I guess you could say…" I did _not_ like the sound of that.

My eyebrows knitted together "Warn me? How?"

I could practically see Cloud squirming on the other side of the phone

"Well, I heard they still have all sorts of traps, cameras, and sensors and stuff like that in and outside the house and I don't think that going there such a good idea-"

"Oh, I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I put him on speaker phone so that Yuffie could hear his wise words of wisdom.

"Oh, uh yea. It's probably not a good idea to go just cause' of all the traps and cameras and stuff". I shot Yuffie a VERY smug look and then took Cloud off of speaker phone and began talking normally. I finished up the conversation within the next couple of minutes and the entire time Yuffie had her arms crossed stubbornly over her chest. Maybe convincing, or in this case UNconvincing Yuffie, was going to be a LOT harder than I thought.

After a quick goodbye I snapped my phone shut and turned to Yuffie, and sighed. But before I could get a single word out, Yuffie cut in. "You already agreed Tifa, not to mention we already got so far! We have a list and everything! You can't bail on me now!" I was tempted to say 'um and why not' but figured it would be better not to waste my breath. "Is there really NO chance I can change your mind?" I asked Yuffie unhappily. "Nope" she chirped realizing that she was the victor. I almost moaned. "I guess there is no helping it then"

I handed Yuffie a twenty dollar bill "take that and get the stuff. Stop by your house and grab your camera. I left mine at Aerith's house on accident." She nodded and then ran off. I heard the front door slam shut and the eerie silence almost mocking me. What had I gotten myself into?

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**Thanks for reading! I promise that the next chapter will be WAY more exciting! Rufus will come into play ^^ 3 ! please review and be NICE lol **


	2. A Candle's Light

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­**Okay lol soo I know this wasn't an OVERLY looonnng chappy but I just started track season and I have practice EVERY fricken day after school (ugh) and soo yea …So I get home late THEN I DO HMWK hahahaha the beauty of it all…lol anyways, so I want you guys to review! So if you like it, LET ME KNOW! SHOW ME YOU LIKE IT THROW LOVING AND KIND REVIEWS lol. Special thanks to michibun and OTerrorInABoxO**

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I frowned "Yuffie, are you sure this is the best way in?". Okay so yea, I was skeptical, but scaling up the side of the Shinra mansion and then breaking in through a window didn't exactly sound like a brilliant idea to me. Yuffie looked back at me, eyes rolling and replied "Would you relax? Sheesh. I brought ropes and stuff so don't worry about it." Yea, right.

I looked over my shoulder and then shivered. It was dark and the wind was throwing my long brunette hair around. I did _not_ like the looks of the approaching storm. I looked at Yuffie expectantly. "Can we go now…I just want to get this finished with…I can not believe I am doing this…" Yuffie giggled at me and then skillfully attached a rope to what resembled a boomerang with some fancy knot. Honestly, where did she learn these things anyways?

"Ready" Yuffie angled her arm back readying for the throw "Set" she closed one dark eye and aimed for the window "Go!" I watched the blur of blue against the flash of light that lit up the sky for like fireworks during a celebration. I heard the crash of the boomerang through the window, but I was counting how far away the storm was based on the gap of silence from when lightening strikes until the thunder booms. "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, 4 Mississippi, 5 Mississippi, 6 Missis-BOOM!" About 5 and ½ miles away, but with winds like that, the storm would be here soon and I didn't plan on waiting around for it.

"Okay Tiff, looks like I got a good pull" Yuffie explained while flashing me one of her trademark grins. I watched while she tugged one last time on the rope and then quickly scaled the side of the mansion pulling herself agilely over the edge of the window. That was when I saw the first bad sign. This was the mansion of one of the richest families in the world…Where were the alarms?

Yuffie looked down at me from the window and yelled with her hands cupped over her mouth. "Come…clear!…hurry!…" I felt my brow furrow. "What?!" I had no idea what she was saying. I could barely hear my own voice over the howling wind, let alone her's from the second floor of a house. Yuffie motioned for me to come up with her hands. I sighed, but obliged to her demand.

After tumbling through the window and narrowly avoiding several shards of glass I stood up and brushed myself off. I looked around the dark room that seemingly resembled a 'sitting room'. What was it with rich folks and excessive rooms and furniture? The couch in the middle and two chairs separated by a small wooden table that sat directly across from the couch were both covered with white cloths probably protecting them from dust or something.

"Eeek. Creepy, right?" Yuffie said lowly with an eerie face. I laughed "Oh yea, really freaky. Yuffie I was thinking about this. This is like, one of the biggest, most fancy homes around, right?" Yuffie nodded "Well, then where are the alarms?" Yuffie smirked and then responded slyly "With the electricity."

I could practically feel the annoyance plastered all over my face "Yuffie, what do you mean, 'with the electricity'" I waited, scrutinizing her. "Weeeelllllllll, on my way back to your house… I kinda passed by the mansion…" I groaned. She couldn't stay out of trouble for even 5 minutes after being left alone. "Yuffie, what have you done this time?" She suppressed a grin and kept up her useless innocence act "Don't get mad cause this _could_ be blamed on the storm…but I kinda thought it would make things easier if I accidently took out the generator, cut the wires, you know the usual. "

The usual? Oh geez. We were going to be sooo beyond screwed if we got caught. Not _only_ would it be trespassing, but now we could be pressed with charges of _vandalism_. I swear, Yuffie doesn't think about anything before she just runs off and does things! She has _no_ red flags in her mind! I tried not grumble about it too much. In scenarios such as these there are only two real rules. 1) Don't get caught doing anything wrong and 2) Absolutely NEVER leave any form of evidence.

Thinking about the evidence rule made me take a quick glance at our hands. Both were covered in a pair of thin flexible black gloves. Yuffie had pouted earlier about not getting the fingerless gloves that 'went with our outfit'. However, she didn't pout for long because she managed to stick me in black tights, black underarmor, _tiny_ black shorts, and of course, the traditional war paint under the eyes. Honestly.

"Okay Yuffie, we're finally here, so let's get some pictures, do your _STUPID_ voodoo thing and get the _hell_ out of here, okay?" I turned back to look at Yuffie but she had already wandered off into the other room exploring.

"Yuffie, are you even listening to me?" I walked into the other room. I took a glance at the once polished wooden floor when it creaked below me. I walked around the corner "Yuff?"

I was surprised to be greeted by a quick flash and then a burst of laughter. I blinked a couple times "What the heck was that?" I demanded. Yuffie continued to laugh her twinkling laugh while she turned the camera screen around to reveal a photographed me completely shocked and looking like a nervous wreck.

"EW! Delete that picture Yuffie!" I laughed at my own shocked face. "No, I think I'll put this on facebook…maybe I can even send it to Sephiroth!" Yuffie had that creepily evil look she gets right before she blackmails someone on her face. "Hehe" I gulped. If she sent that to _anyone_ as popular as Sephiroth I would _murder_ her or possibly myself depending on the picture!

"Come on Yuffie, let's not be drastic…"I trailed off right before I pounced on the annoying little shrimp that happened have the title 'best friend' and pried the camera from her evil little paws. "Ha! Deleted!" I cheered successfully.

I rolled over and picked up the bag with our crap in it and stood up. I held a hand out to Yuffie. She took it and I yanked her up to her feet. "Okay, lets be serious now" Yuffie said with a perfect straight face. I laughed and her face soon lit up with a grin. "Alright, lead the way then, _Captain_" I said mockingly my eyes rolling. Yuffie saluted me and marched patriotically to the grand staircase.

"FREEZE!" I yelled in a deep voice. Yuffie _did_ freeze for a moment, then realized it was me joking. She caught on as I ran up and snapped a picture of her posing like a 'lady' in front of the grand staircase. "Oh geez, this is gold!" Yuffie looked over my shoulder laughing all the while as I flipped back to the picture.

The next 20 minutes consisted of exploring the huge mansion. There was probably anywhere from 100 to 150 rooms in the stupid house. It was crazy! If I had this kind of money, I could do so much with it. I wouldn't waste it on a _house_. I would put it towards a good cause!

Anyways, then after we found a really creepy hallway with glass chandeliers and huge windows that gave us a disturbingly large view of the storm outside, we sat down and did some weird ass voodoo that was a complete waste of time.

After 10 minutes of calling forth evil spirits and what not, my butt was really beginning to hurt from sitting on the marble floor. I stared at the flickering candle "Well, that was a bust" I laughed while Yuffie pouted

"Come on Yuff, you didn't actually expect anything to happen right? All that stuff on TV is fake, you know that don't you?" I waited expectantly for some whiney reply but she said nothing her lip jutting out a bit further. I shook my head "Yuffie I really wonder about you sometimes, you know that?"

Yuffie just stuck her nose in the air, arms crossed looking defiant. I sighed "Some things never change. Come on, let's clean up."

Yuffie reached down to help me and soon I was back on my feet again my butt fricken TINGLING!! Yup, that's right, tingling! And while I looked over my shoulder and back at my 'tingling' butt I stumbled on the edge of the upturned rug hitting the lit handle. I gasped as did Yuffie. OH HELL NO.

"Yuffie! Grab it!" I screamed as I tripped and fell my hand fell short about a foot of the where the candle fell and Yuffie wasn't fast enough.

The candle fell with a soft '_thump_' on the carpet in the small sitting room that soon had an inch or two of fire streaking off of it. We both watched in horror for a moment. "..wa..WWAATER!!" I stuttered!

I was frozen. No one really knows what to do in situations like this, really. Yuffie didn't move at first but before I knew it we were both running around frantically. I ran into the next door room in search of a bathroom but instead found it to be a 'parlor' room. WHAT THE HELL IS A PARLOR ROOM ANYWAYS!?!??!!?!

Meanwhile, I could smell the smoke in the air. The lightening outside moved with the speed of my heart and the sound of thunder was jumbled through the glass like my thoughts through the thickening smoke.

"YUFFIE! DID YOU FIND WA-" my voice cracked and I choked on smoke. I stared back at the rising flames. Holy hell. What had we done? I pulled my black shirt over my mouth and nose and ran down the hallway. We didn't have time for this. "YUFFIE" My muffled scream hardly made a sound over the crackling fire and storm outside.

At this rate, I didn't even give a crap about the fricken house and just wanted to find Yuffie and high tail it out of here. All evidence that we had been here would be gone, not to mention the fact that the Shinras didn't even live in _this_ house so it wasn't like it was really _hurting_ anyone.

In fact, it might teach those rich bastards a lesson. Not to suggest that I go around burning down people's houses when I think they need a lesson or something, but you get the general idea.

I took a left toward the main hallway just as I heard glass shattering. The howling wind seemed to be chasing me down the hall.

I ran down the stairs "YUFFIE WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?" I saw a flash of black and suddenly Yuffie was sprinting, and I meaning _sprinting_, down the steps.

She flew past me and said a single word "Run!"

Confused, but not one to argue, I agreed but not quite as hastily. That's when I heard it. The low appealing, but deadly voice of someone approaching quickly behind "Stop right there or I'll fire" the cocking of a gun. HA! Like I was going to stop now!

I was running behind Yuffie screaming "We gotta split up, it's the only way! He's the only one right???" My voice was getting hoarse from all the smoke as the fire was spreading faster and faster.

Yuffie turned her head back slightly to nod and I saw her face. Emotions played across. Fear, confusion, anxiety. But now wasn't the time for that.

"STOP RIGHT NOW OR I'LL SHOOOT!!" The voice was commanding and serious. There was nothing at all joking about this voice and although I didn't want to push its owner to it's limits I sure didn't want to stick around and meet the guy either.

I pushed on around the corner in time to here a **BOOM**!!!!! Except this wasn't the 'boom' of thunder, this was the 'boom' of a gun being shot. The second I heard it I threw myself around that corner like it was my saving grace in time to feel something sting my cheek right below my 'warrior marks' as Yuffie had called them.

Crimson red slid down my cheek. "Unbelievable. That little asshole had been aiming for my _head_!!! That could have killed me!!!!! What a jerk!!!! I'm officially offended" I whispered to Yuffie in my now gruff voice. That when I noticed.

There was no Yuffie. Holy shit. She must have actually taken my whole 'split up thing' seriously. YOU NEVER SPLIT UP!! YOU JUST SAY THAT TO CONFUSE THE SHIT OUT OF THE OTHER PERSON!!! Oh my god. She was always causing problems. Ugh, I hope that she just heads back to my house because otherwise we will have major problems.

I was snapped out of my previous thoughts of Yuffie when the crackle of fire was over taken by the snapping of some sort of metal, a loud shattering sound,. I stuck my head around the corner only to see that whoever shot at me was now going to be pinned under one of the obnoxiously fancy chandeliers. I stood up my eyes wide but couldn't say anything in time. The chandelier fell, crushing him.

I walked over cautiously. There were no live cables and the chandelier wasn't on fire. (THAT WOULD BE ONE HELL OF A SITE!) Whoever was pinned under it was definitely out cold. There was no way anyone could take a hit like that and NOT be knocked unconscious!

I crouched down to get a quick look at the man who had the nerve to shoot and me and was instantly stunned and absolutely breathless. Silky blonde hair was tossed carelessly over his closed eyes which revealed the gorgeous long lashes that most _girls_ would envy. His face was made of surprisingly sharp yet somehow graceful features that made him, simply put, drop dead gorgeous.

While my mouth hung open, some smoke must have come in and knocked me out of my little daze because I came back to reality. Regardless of how…_stunning_…he was…I…I…couldn't just take him to my house and take care of him until he got better or a home.... even though it was my fault. Technically…

Especially since, he was MY age AND ESPECIALLY since I would have to DRAG him to my house which would look WIERD! As I tried to UNconvince myself of helping him I heard the distant whine of the approaching fire trucks.

That was all the motivation I needed! I bent down slowly and carefully was able to wiggle him out from under the chandelier (it wasn't too heavy after all that glass shattered off of it).

By that time my nose was burning and the back of my throat felt like sandpaper. I slung an arm around his shoulder (which was extremely muscular although most might not notice at first glance) and attempted to cart him the hell out of there.

Although this may seem like an effective system, it really wasn't considering if he stood up straight he could probably put his chin on top of my head _and_ as I mentioned before, he was muscular but not in the obnoxious football player way. It was more like the I-work-out-everyday-to-be-healthy-and-stay-in-shape-type of muscular.

I was able to get both us out of the burning Shinra mansion while I made my observations, which was a good way to get my mind off the fact that I was wheezing like a 10 year smoker. Once we were in the pouring rain (Of course there is enough rain to soak us through, but not enough to stop the fricken fire. Great, FML) and the flashing lighting I dragged the two of us into the nearest woods.

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it home and I was absolutely NOT going to involve anyone else. The only person I would do that to is Yuffie and that's because she's already in this but I don't even know where she bloody is. (And to be frank, I don't really care either!) I don't want to say that I'm not concerned about Yuffie but um… seriously I have my own damn problems…

Once we were deep enough in the woods (To the point that no one would probably find us, unless they came looking of course, which would be a whole other story!) I settled down after I gently laid down the 17-year old (Probably…He looks my age, I sure hope so with a face like that!).

I was _way_ too tired to even think about walking _all _home. It wasn't actually that far, but in reality, we would half to take the long way to avoid main roads (cops and fire fighters and stuff) not to mention I don't know the woods that well in the dark and especially not when it's RAINING in the dark. As I thought about all this, I drifted off into a deep slumber.

**Rufus' POV**

Rufus jolted upward as he woke up quite obviously _not_ on his personally made tempur-pedic bed. He took in my surroundings carefully as his hand slowly slid to his sawed off shot gun. He was in the woods nearby the mansion. Perhaps an attempted and failed capture for a ransom? Rufus wrinkle my brow as he tried to call forth my memories from last night.

_Flashback_

_Heat…a lot of heat…_

_Growing streams of orange, extending higher, engulfing rooms at a time…_

_A girl yelling…wakes him? _

_Fast black blurs running…not fast enough…_

_Intense brown, no almost red, eyes giving a warning_

… _before something shattered?_

…

_Then nothing…_

_Nothing…nothing at all?_

_End of Flashback_

Rufus' hand suddenly shot to his gun out of reflex after hearing the light breathing beside him. Cocked and already aiming at a vital area of a teenage girl about his age the gun gleamed in the sun that was no where to be seen yesterday.

She looked about 16 or 17. She had long brown hair with a curvy, yet somewhat petite figure. She was wearing all black. Rather suspicious, wasn't she? He examined her face and noticed a light cut running along her cheek and it hit him.

The eyes like red whine and the black blurs…and the…the …chandeliers…she must have gotten him before the fire did. Rufus scowled at this. He knew he shouldn't be around her. She was an _intruder_. She broke in to their house. Besides, she was probably some beggar or something and Shinras should not be affiliated with the likes of that…and yet he saved her so he couldn't help but want to …

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**OoOoOoOoOoOo soooooo the million dollar question is, WHY was rufus in the mansion in the first place and WHEN will Tifa find out it really IS rufus!??!!?!? Find out in my next chapter !!!!**


	3. Growing Accustomed To The Strange

**Between spring break, Easter break, family deaths, and getting grounded from my computer, I haven't exactly had a lot of time for writing…like I always say, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!! Lol just do it!**

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Rufus watched as the girl's breath came out in rushed whispers through her slightly parted lips. He sighed heavily. The decisions that his father would have wanted him to make and that _he_ wanted to make were slowly placing a weight on his shoulders – a weight that was dragging him down slowly.

He knew that he _should_ wake her up and question her on what she knew about last night.

He knew that he _should_ call the police and just hand her over telling them that she was the one responsible for the fire.

He knew he that _should _just leave what happens to the teen in the hands of someone else, because Shinra's as his father always said to him, "Don't take care of such tedious matters".

He knew that he _should_ just walk away afterwards without a single ounce of guilt.

And yet, he didn't _want_ to do anything of those things because she saved him _from_ that fire, regardless of the fact that he could be a witness against her if he sued or charged her for criminal activities as well as trespassing.

Rufus jerked his head up as his tangled thoughts were interrupted by a groan accompanied by the rustling of leaves as the young girl rolled over.

"Ugh…My back can so not handle this kind of treatment!" the girl moaned. Funny, he was just thinking the same thing.

Rufus coughed as means to make his presence known. This seemed to startle her. She jumped and flipped around to stare at him.

She turned to see who had scared her and froze once she had glimpsed Rufus. With narrowed eyes, she glared at him. "YOU." He wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement, either way, it didn't sound like it was the kind of 'you' that someone could say excitedly through gritted teeth.

Despite knowing this, Rufus couldn't help but want to see just how high he could ignite the flames of her easily set-off temper.

"Me? Now what sort of atrocious event could have possibly occurred that would make you hate me enough to same my name with such" he paused as he searched for the proper word and let his lips curve up at the sides as they formed the word "spite."

The girl looked uninterested in what he had to say and merely pointed to the cute with, now dry, blood smeared across her cheek. "That" She said while smirking as though noticing that she had made a valid point.

However, Rufus Shirna was _not_ about to back down from a challenge. No matter how small or ridiculous I may be. "Oh really? And I would presume that this would be coming from the person who broke and entered my household, which in the idiotic terms people like you use, would be a trespasser. Therefore that action was merely a form of self-defense"

She frowned for a moment, then soon the devious smile returned to her face as though she were almost – could it be possible? – enjoying there little debate. "And _this_ would be coming from my own _personal assassin?_" She waited for some sort of retort, but when silence filled it instead she continued "Yes, that was what I thought, because she tried to _kill_ me and I, being the kind-hearted loving person I am, in return _saved_ you."

He paused and posed as though he was thinking hard about something though it was quite obvious that it was just acting "And I suppose that you burn down everyone's multi-billion dollar homes in return for saving their lives?"

She ground her teeth together hard. "In return for saving your ungrateful, rich, pampered ass, you will _not_ turn me in and you _wont_ say a word of this to anyone, you understand you stupid jerk?!" Her crimson eyes burned with rage and showed no signs of joking in her most recent outburst.

Rufus merely shrugged and said "Well, who's to say if I will say anything or not? I guess that means I'll being playing God for the next couple days or so, determining your lowly, unimportant fate"

The arrogance that dripped from his words that would soon infuriate her, but he didn't care. He _was_ more important than a whole bunch of..._commoners_. That's just how things were.

"Why you conceited little– " she didn't finish her sentence because while she had made an attempt to kick him she was thrown off balance and off guard when he agilely ducked as though that were some how the norm for him. As it probably was, seeing as how anyone who even knew Shinra was considered a celebrity-idol or a mass-murder set out to destroy the world.

After dodging the kick that would have probably left a nasty bruise, he didn't stop there to show off his skills. As the girl began to slip and loose her balance from missing her target he was able to swiftly catch her with one arm and pull out his favorite, silver, shotgun.

"I wouldn't have done that if I was you." He murmured. Although he probably would admittedly do nothing than scare and threaten her as means to teach her a lesson, his voice sounded menacing and dangerous enough.

"I don't regret it! And I don't know why anyone would! You're a stupid little brat who is completely unaware of what real suffering _is_!" She jerked away from him and used the element of surprise to knock the gun from his fingers and into the air.

In the moment Rufus looked skyward and reached out to his gun, the girl ran. He heard her footsteps as her feet snapped sticks and crunched leaves that had been knocked from their trees during the violent storm last night, but by the time the gun had met his outstretched fingertips, the girl was gone.

"Damn it" He muttered secretly disappointed that he hadn't gotten a phone number or name out of the strange girl. Despite her, well, attractive looks, her fast fury and strange actions made her somewhat appealing. She was a challenge he was determined to conquer.

**Tifa's P.O.V.**

I huffed as I made my way into a more familiar area of the woods. "What a fricken jerk! How dare he! ARGG" I yelled at the empty forest and soon my echo could be heard and it seemed as though the forest was yelling back.

I sighed. It didn't really matter what happened to him now because chances were that I would never even see that stupid Shinra brat again.

At the thought my stomach twisted into a tight knot that made it hard to breathe. I wasn't sure if it was hunger or anger…or maybe even … disappointment at the thought of never seeing him again?

NO!! WHAT THE HECK WAS I SAYING?!?!?!?!?!?! Just because he was good looking, didn't change the fact that he was a complete and total ass hole! God, I always fell for the wrong guys, but not this time!!!

After a mostly silent, but thoughtful walk through the woods, I came to a small opening that revealed the path that I was so accustomed to. I hopped on it and began walking in the direction of my house.

When I arrived I found that the front door was opened a crack. This alarmed me. I _know_ for a fact that I had closed and locked that door before I left…either somebody had broken in or someone with another key had let themselves in.

The first seemed the most dominant possibly seeing as how the only other person who had ever had the other key was my dad who has been dead for the last 11 months. See what I mean when I said the first option seemed a tad more reasonable?

I gulped hard and tried to hear around the pounding in my ears. My heart was going crazy even though I tried to keep a straight face and act as though I hadn't noticed. I don't even know why I was freaking out! I mean I _did_ know martial arts and stuff…

I took a deep breath and decided that my fears were foolish and decided that I was going to walk in as silently as possible and beat the crap out of whoever was in there…but I had to wonder…if it was a thief, why come to my poor little house? I hardly had anything worth value and even if they did find something that they thought they should take, why would they use the front door and then _leave it open_?

I walked up the porch steps as these annoying questions rattled around in my head, jumbling my thoughts quite thoroughly.

I was careful to avoid all spots that would creak and groan if I put too much weight on them. I edged forward and opened the door a crack. When nothing moved and there was no sound I opened it all the way.

I looked around as best as I could from the outside to make sure that whoever was in the house hadn't noticed me. No sound. No movement. No bad signs. The coast was clear.

I tip toed into the hallway silently and suppressed a gasp and or scream that had threatened to burst out when I heard the slight murmuring of someone right around the corner from where I was.

I listened as intently as I could without getting any closer. The voice was low and rough…it sounded familiar, but then again, you never know.

"I think … time … act…yes….I heard already…got…a plan…I'll…care…it..." I couldn't hear anything the man was saying, not to mention that his conversation made no sense whatsoever. However, now wasn't the time for such matters. I knew that I should use this time to my advantage. If he was on the phone he would most likely be distracted enough that I would be able to jump him.

I slowly rounded the corner and the back of cropped short brunette hair was the only thing I saw before I pounced on the intruders back, putting one arm around his neck effectively choking him.

As his head turned, my arms turned to noodles and I felt limp as I fell of his back.

I couldn't find any other words to speak. When I had found my voice seconds later my voice broke halfway through "Daddy?"

I pulled in a breath in attempt to force myself to breathe.

"Hi there sweet heart…it's been a while hasn't it? Well…how should I start?"

I swallowed hard and tried to smile through the tears that were now running down my face. "Oh daddy!" I buried my face in his chest and I heaved. I would never let him go again.

After I had calmed myself down and wiped away my tears until I was down to just occasional sniffles, I wanted to talk.

"Where have you been? It's been months! Everyone thought you were dead! I thought…I thought I was never going to see you again." The sentence was hard to spit out. I felt like it was stuck in my throat.

"Baby, didn't I always tell you I would come back no matter what?"

I couldn't speak without bringing forth the water works so I just bit my lip and nodded.

He paused before he walked over and stroked my hair. I leaned into him.

"Looks like you've had a long day…" When I didn't reply after the first topic change he tried again "So have you heard?"

"Hm? Heard what?"

"Oh come on Tiff, I knew you weren't the gossipy type, but even you should have heard!"

This piqued my curiosity "What, dad? Just tell me already!" It was strange to use that word again; dad. I had avoided it since the day he was pronounced dead.

"Oh alright. The Shinra kid."

I felt my eyes go wide and my mouth drop. I pulled myself together and tried not to snap my quick response, but failed miserably "THE BRAT?!?!"

His eye brows quirked "Um yes? He's in town, apparently transferring. The kids been talking?"

"T-transferring?!? Where?!" Oh hell no. There was only one private school that rich brats would want to go to and that was Calmott School…my school. NO NO NO!!! THIS WAS SOOO NOT HAPPENING!!

"Why, I believe he is going to your school! Calmott, wasn't it? You still going there?" Of course he wasn't concerned. UGH, he would so not get it! And I was definitely not going to explain that I broke into their house, saved him after I burnt down the mansion and then stormed off in a fit of fury. Yup it is official, I have the best life ever, and yes, that is sarcasm.

"Yea. Still got the scholarship too." It was the only way I could go to such a school, cause' let's face it, I'm no Shinra.

My dad put a calloused hand on my shoulder and smiled at me "You're doing fine kid, just fine."

I didn't really get what he was trying to say, but I didn't really care. All that mattered was that he was back. I couldn't wait to surprise Yuffie. She would freak…OMG …YUFFIE!!!

I gasped and my dad cocked his head to the side in surprise.

"Oh my god! I totally forgot about Yuffie!" OH shit!! HOLY SHIT BALLS!!! Oh dear god…she was supposed to be here!

"What about her? I'm sure she is fine, what's the matter? What's going on Tiff? Talk to me." I couldn't help but think he was a little too concerned but whatever. Totally beside the point because he should not be concerned about _me_ when _Yuffie_ was probably sitting in a jail cell because she was being careless while running away and when one of the stupid police officers asked her if she was okay she pissed him off or made it really obvious that she was behind everything or something. Oh god.

"I uh…just forgot that …" oh shit…think of something! I can't tell him, even if he is my dad who miraculously came back from the dead (um, yea, I am sooo going to talk to him about that!) "That…I …had to give Yuffie this one thing for our…Um…project?" oh crap that did _not_ sound convincing at _all_.

"Oh well, if that's all, then I guess you should just call her then." I heard him chuckle under his breath something about dramatic teenage girls as I ran upstairs to my bedroom.

I pulled my, somehow dry and undamaged, phone out of my pocket and scrolled to the Ys until 'Y-dog' was selected. Yea, that's right, _y-dog_. She is _such_ a loser sometimes, but I suppose that's why I we were best friends.

It rang twice before I heard a breathless giggling voice say "Shhh, shut up _Vinnie_" she giggled and apparently shushed the 'peanut gallery' before she addressed me "Oh my god Tifa I have been so worried…I was just about to call you…sorta…"

"Mm-hm. And let me ask you, were you planning on calling me before or after your little adventure with 'Vinnie'?" I imitated the way she had said his name previously. I swear I was going to kill her when I got my hands on her.

Another giggle and a low muffled voice in the background "Oh, um…yea…I am totally like sorry for …uh yea that". She was obviously distracted and usually I would have the patients for that kind of thing, but not today.

"UGH could you please stop screwing around with your new boyfriend for like 10 seconds and _talk_ to me please!" I couldn't help it! I mean she was the one who totally didn't wait at my house and went off and found some new boyfriend! ARGG!!!

"Geez Tif, chill out!"

"_Chill OUT?!?!_ Okay SURE, I'LL CHILL OUT! ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU ARENT AT MY HOUSE AND YOU DIDN'T HALF TO STAY WITH THAT STUPID RICH BRAT THAT _I SAVED _BY THE WAY **AND MY DAD SHOWED UP SO DON'T YOU TELL ME TO 'CHILL OUT'!**" okay so yea, I probably shouldn't have been screaming but I was past the point of reasoning.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?! I was the one who had to avoid all of those damn cops and then almost got caught by one! Then a nice guy came and saved me from all of their questioning so I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to your little **LATE NIGHT MAKEOUT SESSION WITH THE FRICKEN SHINRA KID!**"

Okay so I know I was the one who started the screaming thing but this was sooo not how I planned this conversation.

I took a deep breath "Look, Yuffie this is not how I wanted to talk to you, but I'm totally freaking out over here and could definitely use my best friend."

Yuffie must have calmed down on her side of the line too because she spoke normally again "Yea, sorry…so what's all this about your dad?"

"Ugh I don't know what to think…I mean could this be real? He seems real enough…but hey like they always say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?"

"Yea I guess…so um, later …we need to swap…er…details…can I meet you at Veritas in 10 minutes?"

I sighed in disapproval, details? Oh boy. "Yea sure."

"GREAT!" she chirped and before I could say a word she finished our conversation with a quick 'talk to you later then' before hanging up.

"Yea, you too" I muttered to myself as I snapped my phone shut.

I changed out of my muddy clothes into a long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. I quickly brushed through my long knotted and matted brunette hair and threw it up into a high ponytail.

I groaned at my reflection "Guess this is as good as it is going to get." I wiped my sliced cheek with a damp washcloth and put a Band-Aid over it.

Without another look back at the mirror I skipped down the stairs. "Going out for a few" I hollered. I waited for a protest or complaint about short notice or even something about 'just getting back, stay and visit' but all I heard was a sound of acknowledgment.

Um that was weird. I know things were different, but my dad would _never_ let me just leave like that under these circumstances. Come to think of it, he didn't even ask me about my weird appearance from earlier.

Oh well, I guess I should just talk to him about it later or something.

"See ya' later! I'll be back in time for dinner!" I yelled back once again as I closed the front door.

As I ran out of the surrounding woods I couldn't help but question my dad's new strange behavior. Usually he would have jumped on me about where I was going and who was going to be there, you know the usual stuff, but he didn't do any of those things…definitely weird.

Or maybe he was just trying to play it cool since he had been gone all this time.

I thought about all of this as I jogged on the cobblestone street and into a center with tall buildings that stretched down on either side of the busy street. There were stores and restaurants divided up among the buildings. People walked up and down the sidewalks and a few road bikes on the shoulder of the road.

I went down until I came to my favorite restaurant, Veritas. All the high school students loved it because it was cheap and the food was great. There were chairs and tables scattered about within it so people could work or talk with friends.

When I walked in I scanned the tables, couches, and booths until I saw Yuffie and the back of black haired man's head in a navy booth.

I stood there scrutinizing the man until Yuffie waved me over. I gave her a very pointed look and then nudged my head towards the man dressed in red. She grinned and I knew that this had to be 'Vinnie' the hero who rescued her.

"HEY! Oh my gosh Tifa, you'll never guess!" I hadn't even managed to sit down and she was already talking. This was going to be a long couple of hours. "This is Vincent! But I just call him Vinnie! He doesn't really like that nickname much, but oh well!"

Yuffie scooted over so I could sit down next to her in the booth. I looked at Vinnie, as she called him, and was surprised by his expressionless face. As it turned out he _wasn't_ wearing red, but rather a red cloak over a black shirt and pants. His left arm, which was lying in his lap, was covered by his cloak.

I stuck my right hand out and introduced myself "Hello, I'm Tifa. Tifa Lockheart." His crimson eyes followed my hand and as though by mere instinct he stuck out his hand. "Vincent Valentine."

Not much of a talker, I later discovered. I guess it balanced out though because it seemed like Yuffie was determined to make up for his silence seeing as how I could not get her to shut up.

Apparently her night had been quite eventful. The abridged version consisted of her walking home, being questioned by a cop who found her suspicious and wanted to take her to HQ and then being 'saved' by Vincent when he distracted the cop and Yuffie managed to run away. Apparently they had met up later on and just crashed at Yuffie's place.

Apparently Vincent was here on a business trip and the hotel he was staying at had gotten his reservation confused with a separate guest's and it would take a day or two to fix the problem.

I told her quickly about my night and was surprised when Vincent, who had not spoken a word the whole time other than our introduction, said "By the 'Shinra-brat' I presume you mean, _Rufus _Shinra, no?"

"Um yea?" No wonder he was so quiet all the time, he was an idiot! For real, isn't it fricken obvious that it would be Rufus Shinra? Like, who else would I call 'Shinra brat' that was my age and living in the Shinra mansion!?!?

An emotion that I didn't understand stirred in his frighteningly brilliant red eyes. "I'm sorry, but I must leave. It's been a pleasure." And with that, Vincent swiftly left leaving Yuffie and I completely bewildered. As he walked I couldn't help but stair at the golden claw that replaced his left arm. I gasped, but Yuffie remained unfazed, or rather accustomed to the claw.

"What was that all about?" shocked Yuffie asked me

"Um…I don't know…that was…weird" I was still trying to find my voice.

"I'll say"

I paused, thinking of what to say not wanting to dwell on his departure "So…what were those…erm…details, you wanted to tell me about?"

It didn't take much to set her off because in seconds she was already describing the 'perfect chemistry' she and her new wonder boy, or rather EMO boy, had experienced last night.

I downed the last of my coffee and paid for my bill. "Well, I half to get going, I better be back by dinner otherwise dad will flip a shit" I laughed although it was weird to have a parent back in the picture.

"Oh, right, dad's home…" she seemed to think of it as strangely as I did.

"Yep! Well I'll see you on Monday I guess, unless you want to do something tomorrow if you're free…"

"Can't, I half to go to this stupid family thing…ugh, it's retarded" Yuffie frowned while I laughed.

"Whatever, it's fine. Don't forget to do your math homework…I doubt Mr. Fletrel will let it go again if you don't do it this time! And your excuses and fake notes aren't going to work so don't bother this time around!"

"Yea whatever _mom_" Yuffie mocked.

I laughed lightly once again and then waved goodbye and I walked out the door "See ya' Monday"

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**Okay sooo I know that this wasn't that great and that I took FOREVER on this chapter but a LOT happened…But here is the main thing I want you guys to do for me, I want you to answer the following questions**

**What is your dream date?**

**What happened on the worst day of your life?**

**What do you do if your best friend's boyfriend is an ass hole and probably doesn't even care about them?**

**Lol these are half-personal and half-relevant to the storyline so answer them for me!!!!!!**

**Thanks to all of my loyal reviewers and readers! I promise I will be better about updating…I'm probably going to do short fast ones again, because finals are approaching RAPIDLY soo I'm going to be studying and stuff so yea… :) **

**HAPPY EASTER AND MAKE SURE YOU REVIEW AND ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!! 3 3**


	4. The Lost Room

**A/N: okay sooo I know I took FOREVER and I know it doesn't change anything, but I dumped my ass of a boyfriend and was like too depressed to write cause I didn't want to believe he was a douche buuuuutttt whatever. We all know how that goes. Finally I was like AHHH I need to update lol. Sooo sorry about that. Please review even though I kinda abused this story and stuff lol**

Although the rest of my weekend had passed with uncalled for ease, I had a sneaking suspicion that school wouldn't go so smoothly.

I took a deep breath as I stared at my reflection. There was no way that the Shinra kid – oh, excuse me, _Rufus_ – would recognize me. I mean the last time he saw me, I was covered in dirt and soaking wet. Not to mention that at Calmott there were 270 people in my grade alone.

I sighed as I smoothed out my plaid skirt. Ugh, I hate uniforms. Mine consists of a green and white skirt, with a white polo, and a required forest green, silk tie. Girls have an optional pullover vest or sweater. Boys half to wear khaki pants with a white polo and tie with the option of a dark green blazer or sweater-vest (not that anyone actually wore those!). All in all, our uniform was boring.

I pulled my hair up then decided to wear it down since it was up when I had snuck into the mansion. With a last glance at the mirror I skipped out of the bathroom and down the steps. I walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see that breakfast was on the table.

"Um…" That was _weird…_ even on special occasions when my dad was still around, I always made breakfast since his cooking skills were a little…off.

"I made scrambled eggs and toast! I even threw in some bacon." He smiled as he waved a spatula.

"Is it..." I gulped as I eyed it "edible?"

He gave me a surprised then confused look "Of course."

"Erm…okay." I sat down and mentally prepared myself. The worst that could happen would be food poisoning for a day or two…which might be a good thing that way I wouldn't have to worry about that stupid Shinra kid.

I stabbed a yellow, scrambled egg. It looked okay, but then again, looks could be deceiving. I stuck it in my mouth and prepared myself for a small explosion, chemical reaction, or something out of the ordinary.

That's when I really tasted it. My eyes widened. I swallowed before I spoke "Whoa, dad this is really good!"

He winked "I told you!"

He came and sat down across from the table. I savored the delicious food while in-between bites I attempted talking with my dad, attempted being the key word there. I tried to start 'catching up' but he avoided all questions and topics involving where he was that past couple of months and why he had come back now with a shrug or a simple 'It doesn't really matter, that's not important, or I want to talk about you, not me' or something along those lines.

It was definitely weird, but I wasn't about to complain about having my dad back, so I let it slide.

After breakfast I walked to the front door and picked up my backpack. "See you later!" I walked out the door but seconds later I heard it creak back open. I turned back to look at his head poking out "What are you doing?"

"Um, walking to school…like I always do?"

"Oh right…of course. Would you rather me drive you there?" he seemed genuinely puzzled at the thought of me _walking_ to school. It certainly wasn't anything new.

"Uh... I guess, I don't really care, but wont you be late to work…or are you not going since you just got back?" Not knowing where or why he had come back was like an itch that I couldn't scratch, it was driving me crazy.

"Oh well, no…I mean yes, I have a job, but no I wont be late. Plus I got a new car." He beamed widely, obviously proud of himself.

"Oh wow, then sure, why not?" I walked back towards the house and followed him around back and was shocked – more like blown away – at the sight of a shiny black escalade.

I gasped "How did you…What exactly is your job anyways? It must being paying a lot!"

He laughed and took my backpack off my shoulders and put it in the truck. Then he pressed a button on his car keys and the truck closed…BY ITSELF. I felt my jaw drop.

He chuckled when he saw my expression "So, do you like it?"

"Uh-huh" I managed but I wasn't so out of it that I failed to notice that he avoided the job-question. My dad was definitely not himself.

I hopped in the passenger seat and he put it in gear and smoothly pulled out and around the front of the house and down the narrow path. I was awe-struck at the almost silent purring sound of the engine seeing as how I was used to constant backfires and weird clanking sounds.

The car moved gracefully and quickly, and before I knew it I was at school. When we pulled up, thankfully there were no shocked faces like I had been wearing when I had first seen the car, making getting out and saying goodbye much easier and less embarrassing.

"Love you! See you after school!" I smiled and waved before closing the door.

He waved back and I walked towards the doors. I pushed my way through and shook off the chill that followed me in from the door. I would half to be on my guard since _Shinra_ was here.

Despite being 'on my guard' I couldn't help but yawn widely as I walked down the main hallway towards my locker. I mean seriously, I had been up all night worried about whether or not I should even go to school since that stupid brat would be here.

Excited chatter echoed through the halls as students in uniforms identical to mine, bounced around happily as they gossiped about the newly famous transfer student.

I kept my head low and tried not to look at any faces…if Rufus Shinra was here, I was going to avoid him.

But then again, if he tried to approach me and ask me if I knew him it might be better to run away… but then he would be suspicious so I guess it would be best if I just pretended like I didn't know him…hmmm

"Arrgggg!" I screeched as I slumped against my locker. This stupid boy was making my life hell.

"HHHEEEYYY TTIIIFAAA!!" I recognized Yuffie's voice right away. I came up to a crouch and then up all the way.

"Hey" woops…that didn't sound enthusiastic at all…

Unfazed by my lack of excitement Yuffie began her usual morning gossip routine. "OOHHH MMMYYY GOOOSSSHHH! You'll never guess!" She paused as she waited for some reaction and when she only got a bored look, she hurried on "Okay sooo you know that one guy?"

"Ugh, Yuffie, there are _a million _'one guy's out there! Please specify" I grumbled as I opened my locker and began transferring my books and binders from my backpack to my locker.

"I was GOING TO, before you so rudely interrupted me!"

"Yea yea yea, just get to the point, I haven't got all morning"

"Okay sooo, basically that one Vincent guy…" well at least she put a name in-between that one and guy…

"Mm-hm…" I picked out the proper binders and text books for biology.

"Well, you'll never guess, but…"

God she was still rambling. I didn't listen to anything after 'you'll never guess' because quite frankly I probably wouldn't be able to guess since everything that she said usually had no point what so ever…

"Uh…well that wasn't the reaction I was looking for…uh Tifa, why are you so…um RELAXED?!?!" I blinked, what was she talking about again?

"Um what?"

"Ugh Tifa _listen_ this time, okay?" Yuffie gave me an exasperated look that soon became all smiley when I nodded solemnly.

"Are you listening this time?"

"YES, now tell me." I didn't really think it would be that important and I just wanted to escape from her constant chatter. She was great and all, but when I was in the middle of trying to hide from a new transfer student, she wouldn't exactly help me much since she was so_ loud_.

"Okay so I said that Vincent also transferred! Speaking of which, that Shinra kid that shot at us is here! Do you think he will notice us?"

I grinded my teeth slowly and tried not to spit the words out "Yea, I know and I sure as hell hope not."

"Wait how did you–" The first bell telling people to go to class rung, saving me from an explanation. I wasn't in the mood to talk seeing as how I now had to worry about running into the emo loser **AND** the rich kid. Great.

"Gotta go to biology! Talk to you later!!"

"Do you think Vincent will have any classes with me? I sure hope so cause' he is soo awesome, oh my gosh, do you think we should invite him to hang out after school?"

"Uh, yea I guess…" I called it over my shoulder as I practically sprinted away from her and towards the science wing.

Once I had slowed down and actually begun to think past 'escape from Yuffie and her constantly moving mouth I thought back to what she had said "Do you think Vincent will have any classes with me?"

Oh shit. What if I had a class with Rufus? I had just been worrying about running into him in the halls and stuff but now that I think about it…we are the same age! SHIT BALLS!!!!!!!!

That meant one thing…I would have do what other girls do. I _had_ to blend in and act normal around him. Ugh! What was I freaking out about! The actual chances that I would have any classes with him were so slim that it would be close to impossible…right?

My thoughts flew around my head in a frenzy so it wasn't exactly a huge surprise that I was soon distracted and ran into the back of someone tripping, falling, and then dropping all of my books.

"Ouch…" I muttered under my breath as I sat helplessly on my butt, my books scattered around me.

I looked up to see Cloud grinning and extending a hand "Clumsy as always Tiff."

I laughed and took his hand. He pulled me up and then I grabbed all of my books.

"So…you heard about the new kids?"

"What? Oh yea." This was sooo not a topic I wanted to get on.

His eyebrows arched "You…don't like them then?" He was probably surprised by this since I was usually friendly and tried to help the new kid out seeing as how I was once the new kid.

"No! No, nothing like that…it's just…that one Shinra kid…" I didn't really half to finish my sentence. Everyone around here knew that Shinra could make anyone's life absolute hell if you gave him a reason to dislike.

"Yea I know what you mean. But what about the other one?" he lowered his voice "You know, the gothic looking one."

I laughed "Cloud, that's stereotyping." He shrugged but his expression didn't change. "He's just quiet that all…and maybe he was in an accident or something."

"An accident? What makes you say that?" Cloud looked puzzled. Geez, he was so slow sometimes.

"You know, his right arm."

His expression stayed blank for a moment as he processed then it soon became one of understanding. "OHHHH right…yea I guess. I'll ask around or something."

I sighed "Cloud, we don't want to start rumors." Probably too late. And poor Vincent didn't seem like the type who wanted to be in the spotlight.

"Okay I guess…well I have to get to class…I'll catch up with you at lunch! See ya'!"

I waved and walked off to my classroom. I made it through the doorway. I glanced at the clock. I still had two minutes before the bell rang. "Phew!" I breathed a sigh of relief. Mrs. Lofter did _not_ do well with late students.

After I walked into biology class I weaved past the other table tops, to my own in the middle of the room. I dropped all my books down and heaved a sigh of relief when I didn't see Rufus Shinra. I prayed silently that my good luck would follow me and that I wouldn't have any other classes with him and if by some horrible twist of fate I did, that he wouldn't recognize me.

I faintly touched the cut that I received when the bullet grazed my cheek. Although I could still feel the foundation that I had applied on it this morning, I was still uneasy about it. I had a feeling that today was going to be an absolute nightmare.

My bio lab and dissection partner, Zack Fair, took a seat next to me. "Hey Zack" I flashed him a wide smile. Zack and Cloud were probably my two best guy friends, ever. They were the kind of friends who promised to take you to prom if neither of you had a date. They were the kind of friend who you could get guy advice from cause' they know the male gender way better than you do. They were the kind of guy who would come pick you up from your house at 2 pm and let you stay the night cause' you watched a scary movie, got the creeps, and couldn't sleep. Basically, Cloud and Zack were the _best_ kind of guy friends.

"Hey Tifa! Wassup? You seen that Rufus kid? He's really somethin'! He's been struttin' around like he owns the damn place!" I bit down on my tongue, _hard_. Yes, I had seen Rufus. Yes I had met him. And yes I knew of his arrogance and what an ass hole he could be. The very thought of that little snake made my insides boil.

However, now wasn't the time or place for it so I put this past me – or rather, temporarily buried my feelings – and shrugged nonchalantly. "Only in the magazines and on the TV and stuff. Does that count?" I replied coolly with a wry grin. Zack chuckled "No, I don't think so. From what I hear, he's not as special as everyone makes him out to be." _Boy I'll say_ I thought to myself silently.

I pursed my lips thoughtfully at this thinking of an appropriate response. "If you ask me, I'd say he's just a pretty face more than anything." "Yea, a pretty face with a lot of money." Zack mumbled under his breath. I laughed "Yeah, I guess. But that doesn't make him special, right?" I cocked my head willing him to agree with me and then hopefully drop the topic.

Zack shrugged and thought quietly for a moment before saying "That reminds me! Did you hear that one rumor about him? Apparently – " I sighed. Or not. Zack didn't wait for my response to what he had to say or seem to notice that I _didn't care _and continued on talking "they – being the faculty – are allowing Rufus to carry it with him around him _at school_ for 'security' reasons! Isn't that the biggest bullshit you've ever heard?" Zack exclaimed.

I furrowed my brow. "Uh I guess it would be if I knew what 'it' was." Leave it to Zack to forget the most important part of the rumor. Just cause' I love Zack like he's my own brother doesn't mean he's the brightest sharpest tool in the toolbox.

"A gun of course!!" Zack yelled as loud as he could while keeping his voice at a whisper level. My jaw dropped just before it clenched. "What did you just say?" I growled viciously. "Whoa, take it easy Tiff. He can't use it on student's unless they're like hired assassins so I'm pretty sure we don't fit that category soooo we'll be fine." He patted my shoulder for reassurance, but I didn't feel reassured not even in the slightest.

My eyes narrowed to slits and my hands balled up in fists. NO way was I going to let this slide. I was going to talk to the principle or something because I this was completely and totally ridiculous. "I'm doing something about this" I told myself more than I told Zack.

"Whooooa there. NO need to be dramatic. Chill out. It's not even that big of a deal." Zack said calmly while leaning back on his chair. ".DEAL." I repeated slowly…_dangerously_ slow. Zack waved his arms frantically "No! No! That's not what I meant! I mean that the rumor – rumors in general since they're hardly ever true – is not big deal! But things like bringing guns to school – now _that's_ a big deal!" Zack groped for the exact right thing to say.

I cracked a smile "Okay, okay. I get it." Zack let out a sigh of relief. After that Zack and I continued calm – well, I should say calm_er_ conversation – until Mrs. L walked in looking more frazzled then I think I had ever seen her. That's when I realized that the bell had rung several minutes ago and I just hadn't noticed…that meant…Mrs. Lofter was…**LATE**?!?!!?!

Zack and I looked at each other with disturbed looks. The day that Mrs. Lofter showed up late for _anything_, above all a CLASS, was the day that the world would finally come to an end.

"Wonder what happened…car accident, maybe?" Zack pondered aloud. I squinted at her as I considered it "Nah, she would have called in a sub for the few minutes she would have been gone. She must have been _here_ when it happened."

Zack thought about my observation and nodded in agreement "Good point." But if something had happened at school, it must have been big…but what?

Despite the constant inquiries, Mrs. Lofter did not address the class on her tardiness nor did she try to provide us with an excuse. She simply said that it did not apply to what we would be discussing today in class and that we should be more concerned with our lesson and its upcoming quiz.

After the chatter quieted down class began. Mrs. Lofter turned to the white board and began explaining the digestive system and all of the lovely little things that are inside of it.

After that, the rest of the class went by uneventfully as ever. After realizing that Shinra wasn't just going to pop up or walk into the class, my stress level went from a 9.8 to a 7.2. The bell run and I gathered my pre-packed books and darted to the door. It's not my fault that I was counting down the minutes of class (thus knowing that I should start packing my things at t minus 2 minutes before the bell rang).

"See you later Zack!" I call over my shoulder as I continue out the door. 1 period down, 4 to go.

I headed for my locker to exchange my books and ended up passing Yuffie in the hall. "Meet me in the junior room in 5 minutes, please! I reallllllllyyy need help with French! If I fail this next quiz my dad said he'll disown me and since I'd rather stay part of my family, I think that I'm just gonna half to pass the quiz" Yuffie wrinkled her nose and I instantly started dreading what was to come.

I already knew how this was going to go. Basically I was going to have to re-teach and explain the whole lesson and even then she probably wouldn't get it. "Uh well…I can only help you for the first half since I have work after school today and period 2 is my only free period today" I yelled after her.

Yuffie gave an absentminded "Kay!" and ran off somewhere. Great, I probably wouldn't get much time for homework regardless.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later Yuffie bounced in, cheerful as ever and dropped all of her French _crap_ all over the table. "Let's get started" I managed with a grimace. She nodded and flipped her book and binder open to a lesson about conjugations in the future tense.

I glanced it all over. "Okay…sooo what do you not understand or seem to struggle with?" I asked her patiently while looking at her intently. Yuffie put a finger to her chin before she said slowly "I would have to say…" she paused then finally said "everything."

I twitch "Are you kidding me, Yuffie? What were you doing during class? She grinned wryly "Checking out the new yumalicious eye-candy sitting 2 seats over" she said licking her lips and waggling her eyebrows.

I seriously think about banging my head on the table then like better of it. I groan loudly "Yuffie! Are you trying to tell me that instead of paying attention to the lesson that would guarantee whether or not you dad will accept you into your own family you were _eye-raping_ _some eye-candy_?!?!" I throw my arms up into the air in exasperation.

I swear if Yuffie were any more boycrazy, I think she might die of a heart attack every time a boy even looked her way. "We have _got_ to find you a boyfriend" I mutter under my breath. Yuffie responded with a giggle and then punched me on the arm. "Owww" I whine.

"That did _not_ hurt, Tifa." Yuffie rolls her eyes at me and I laugh. "Yeah, I know. I just like whining to annoy you." Once again, I receive the ever mighty eye roll and she said "It didn't really work"

Suddenly I remember the task on hand. "FOCUS!" Yuffie blinked then realized what I was talking about "OHHHH, right!"

As it turned out, I did end up re-teaching Yuffie the whole lesson and it was brutal. Even after the second time learning the lesson, she still was IFFY on it, to say the least. By the time I finally finished with her I only had 15 minutes of period 2 left and I decided not to even bother starting my homework.

I decided to go sit out in the courtyard instead. "Hey, I'll see you at lunch. Okay, Yuffie?" I turned on my heel and walked out the door and I managed to hear a muffled "Uh-huh, sure…"

I walked outside and into the front bowl. The tall oak trees rose high above me and provided shade from the bright sun. I walked out of the shade and into the warm sunlight. I glanced back at the main building of Calmott.

I couldn't help but let my eyes drift to the balcony to the 'lost room'. Supposedly there was a collapsed passage or something to get to the balcony on the restricted floor but nobody had ever been successful at finding it. Thus it got its name, the lost room.

The sun glinted in my eyes and I had to use my hand to block it but when I looked up at the balcony I saw someone standing there. All I could make out was a white shirt and blonde hair that was being tossed around playfully by the slight breeze.

I squinted closer and that's when I saw them. Two bright sapphire eyes and that oh-so-familiar coy smile. My breath caught. Rufus Shinra.

**A/N: okay, I know I said this last time too, but I PROMISE that there will be A LOT more Rufus in the next chapter. Also if you have anything you don't like, TELL ME. I can totally take criticism. ******** Thanks for all of you who actually review! You are the ones to keep me going! This update is for YOU!**


	5. Stupid Moves and Some Plotting

**Hey everyone! It feels like it's been forever (MY BAD). Sorry I took so damn long. Not that it changes anything, but I DID break my hip so I couldn't really spend my 'free time' doing anything but homework and making up work that I missed (LOTS OF DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS). Yea. It pretty much blows, but w/e. Let me know what you think. Review when you get a chance**

**Thanks a million for not ditching this story! **

**~Emma**

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Rufus Shinra. I don't know how he got up there and I sure as hell didn't really give a crap why. All I knew was that he, _the new kid_, had found the lost room on his 1st day. No more hide n' seek. No more games. I was going to confront him.

…okay maybe I was being stupid …but seriously, what was the worst he could do!?!? I twitched. Okay, stupid question. I sighed. Just because Rufus was from a powerful _family_ didn't mean that _he_ was powerful…okay sooo maybe he _was_ powerful, but the thing was, HIS FAMILY WASN'T HERE, sooo I was all set to do whatever I wanted to him…kind of.

Messing around with Rufus Shinra was _stupid_ and doing stupid things was usually something I saved for Yuffie. I couldn't help but grin just a little. All this talk about being stupid with Yuffie reminded me of freshmen year when Yuffie wanted to pull a prank on the principle after he gave her a detention for being 'disrespectful'. My grin stretched a little wider when I began to recall all of the details of how Yuffie convinced me to go T. with her. What had her words been? Oh yea, "_I'm the TOILET PAPER QUEEN!!!" _she had said. Yeah… well, as I later found out, it was the Toilet Paper Queen's first time to ever T.P. someone. Let's just say things didn't go so smoothly and that, of course, is a _major_ understatement.

_-Flashback-_

"_Can you believe him?!" Shrieked the black haired teen. She curled and used a mocking voice while imitating the principle "Detention for being disrespectful! Bah! Disrespectful my ass!!"_

_I sighed. "So now we half to …prank him?" AS MUCH as I wanted to go along with her little prank, it was a BAD BAD __**BAD **__idea. And bad ideas were, well bad. _

"_Yup! And we're gonna get him good." She deemed boldly while attempting, attempting being the key word there, to look confident. _

_I just shook my head "and you plan to do this, how exactly?" I probed with raised eyebrows. She narrowed her eyes in thought. Oh great, she didn't even have a pre-thought out plan. _

_Just when I opened my mouth to suggest something along the lines of 'we'll get him some other time or there's always senior prank' she beamed and turned to me with _that _grin plastered across her face. _

"_What?" I wanted to know what was up because the only problems with her plans were that they tended to have these _holes_ in them. And by holes, I mean giant craters that consume more than have of the original plan that practically made everything so impossible that it would be easier to just let it go and not do it. . _

_As I later found out, the hole in this scenario was that she had never TPed anyone and she wanted to TP our principles house. _

"_We're gonna T.P. his house! We'll get every last tree! It'll be perfect!" Yuffie explained excitedly while I groaned. "But Yuffie~" I whined. This was _such_ a bad idea. _(.. Why is it I never go with my instincts when I'm around this girl?).

_Yuffie stomped her foot down ending my whining "NO BUTS! It's official! We're doing it tonight at 2:00. Oh yea, could you ask Cloud to do it with us cause his parents are out of town so he could take us there in one of their cars! Plus that means we'll have a get-away plan!" I sighed heavily and shook my head disapprovingly but we both knew I would help her pull the prank._

"_Where should we meet then?" I asked, admitting defeat. Yuffie pursed her lips and then shrugged "We can meet at my place if you want." I kept a look of distaste from crossing my face. Her dad was the king of asses (AKA the biggest dic-head I'd ever met in my entire life). _

"_Yea, but wouldn't it make more sense to meet at Cloud's since he's got the car and he wouldn't want to put unnecessary miles on it since his dad could notice…" I was making shit up but I would do anything to avoid going to her place. Yuffie's mouth made an 'o' then she nodded in a very serious manner trying to look professional "Right, right." I suppressed a giggle. _

_Yuffie clapped her hands "Okay so we'll meet at Cloud's house at 1:30, we'll each bring 25 rolls of toilet paper, and then cloud will drive us there. If we work fast we'll be done by 2:30. Is that everything?" I nodded my head. "I'll call Cloud to make sure he's in." I told Yuffie but she was already walking off with that evil smile stretching across her face. _

_I sighed, AGAIN. How was it I was always dragged into her crazy-ass plots?_

_After calling Cloud and going out of my way to stop by the store to pick up 25 ROLLS of toilet paper (oh yea, that doesn't look suspicious), I headed home to pick out my outfit for tonight. _

_It would half to be super cute since Cloud was coming…WAIT! DID I REALLY JUST THINK THAT?!?!?! I shook my head to get unnecessary thoughts out of my head. I couldn't like Cloud like that…I mean he thought of me like his little sister. I frowned at this thought then mentally smacked myself. Why should I care if he treats me like a sister…I knew the answer but refused to admit it._

_I huffed and pushed the pesty thoughts out of my head by cranking up the music on my i-pod. _

_The rest of the night flew by and before I knew it, I was cutting through the woods to get to Cloud's house. "Ugh" I yanked at my black tights. Where these things always this uncomfortable? I had put on a black underarmor shirt, black tights with black Nike running shorts on top. My hair was up in a ponytail and I had the famous black smears under the eyes. All in all, I was looking good and I was totally in the mood for t. surprisingly enough. _

_As I came to the edge of the woods I could see the back of Clouds house. There was a light on in the kitchen. I walked up to the back door and gave a quiet knock. Instantly a large silhouette appeared and the door creaked opened. "Hey" Cloud gave a little wave and I walked into the warm kitchen._

"_So, you think we'll get caught?" I asked him as I threw my duffle bag of toilet paper onto the kitchen table. Cloud shrugged "Depends how loud we are and considering we're with Yuffie…" And as if right on cue the front door was practically kicked in and I saw Yuffie standing there triumphantly as she LOUDLY announced "THE PARTY IS HERE!" I slammed my head against the table and muttered "We are SO screwed." Cloud chuckled and then muttered "I couldn't agree more."_

_Within 10 minutes we were all packed in the car and were on our way to Mr. Notter's house. "You know that feeling you get right before you do something totally awesome? Well I have that feeling right now!" Yuffie whisper-yelled, despite her lack of enthusiastic audience. I twitched. "1. Why are you whispering? 2. Its called adrenaline. And 3. It's not awesome, it's _illegal_." I informed her rather bluntly. _

"_Ohhhhh, so that's what it's called." I groaned inwardly. I tell her what we're doing is illegal and all she hears is that she has adrenaline pumping through her veins. Brilliant. _

_When we got to the house we parked about 4 houses away and got out of the car silently with our duffels. I had gone t. once before so I knew that you had to have a long tail in order to be successful. I also knew that if you really hated the person, you'd aim really high. _

_I ran over to a couple oaks in Mr. Notter's front yard and immediately started chucking the toilet paper rolls as high as I could. Within five minutes all of my trees were looking awesome or in this case horrific since it would SUCK to clean it up. I grinned at my handiwork and grabbed my duffel. I had enough to probably hit a few trees on the sides. _

_I ran to the side of the house and just as I threw my first roll I noticed a light flicked on in a bedroom. I froze and that's when I saw the shape of someone who looked disturbingly like Mr. Notter himself staring out the window at his yard. SHIT._

_I sprinted across the yard not bothering to be quiet "CODE RED! CODE RED!" I yelled. Cloud looked up and quickly threw his remaining roles as fast as he could. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WE GOTTA GO!!!" I screamed. _

_I bolted across the yards as fast as I could, not daring to look back. I rounded the side of a house that was 2 away from Mr. Notter's. Cloud soon scrambled around the corner and ended up next to me. "Where's Yuffie?" I whispered still panting_

"…_Shit."_

_I shoved him aside and dared to peek around the side of the house to get a view of Mr. Notter's yard. And there she was…with Mr. Notter looming over her and screaming. _

"_Oh. My. God. This is NOT happening. We gotta help her" I started to walk around the corner but Cloud yanked me back. My heart skipped a beat and I felt my face heat up as he 'pulled me back to safety'. _

"_We'll all get caught if you go out now. Just wait, we'll get a chance to get her out. It won't be pretty if someone ends up taking her home to her dad, he's an ass." I nodded showing that I agreed. My cheeks were still flaming. I hoped he couldn't tell in the dark. _

"_Let's at least get closer so we can hear and see what's going on." I suggested as I walked around the back side of the house. I got as close as I could to Mr. Notter's house so that I could listen in without being seen. I was probably only 100 feet from Yuffie. Cloud followed me reluctantly._

_Mr. Notter tried to sound somewhat convincing and soothing but it came out forceful and deadly when he spoke "I know you came here with somebody else! Just give me the names and you won't get punished as badly." As badly? Did he think we were stupid? We all knew we would be serving detentions until we got out of fricken high school if he got our names!_

"_N-NO! We- I mean I didn't come here with anyone else. I, me as in Yuffie, which is by the way, not plural, am here all by my lonesome! You know, since I'm such a loner and all. I think you should know that this was all my idea anyways. It's not like they really did anything…NOT THAT THERE IS A THEY! I just said that cause' it's for …theatrical purposes you know cause I'm sooooooo into…drama and everything. I should join the drama club, don't you think. I mean I AM awfully dramatic…" Yuffie was doing a terrible job of lying under pressure. _

_I literally started banging my head on the side of the house. "We're…so…dead…" I said in-between banging my head. _

"_Shh!" Cloud attempted to shush me. _

"_Do you really think I don't know that you came here with someone else? Did you actually think that you could get away with this?" Mr. Notter sneered at Yuffie and anger swelled up in me. _

"_Uh yea." Yuffie stated bluntly. I suppressed a laugh. She was so thick sometimes. I mean really, did she want to get herself killed?_

_Mr. Notter's face twisted into an ugly smirk "OH really?" _

"_Um…yes?" Cloud and I looked at each other. This was going downhill pretty quickly._

"_Well you DIDN'T get away with it. And since you won't surrender the names of the people who so kindly, _left you behind_, you'll be server twice as much detention: everyday after school for 1 month." _

"_Actually that's gonna be one month and a week since you gave me detention earlier today, _remember_?" Yuffie responded mockingly. Oh geez, now was so not that time to be a smart ass._

_Mr. Notter's ears turned red with anger and Cloud and I suppressed our laughter again. _

"_That's it! I'm driving you home to see what your _father_ has to say about this" And for the first time I saw fear flicker in Yuffie's eyes. _

"_Cloud we gotta act now." Things were taking a turn for the worse. I wasn't about to let my idiot best friend be driven home in the middle of the night by some psycho principle who was out to kill her. _

_Cloud looked reluctant but I could tell he agreed. "Okay so here's what we're gonna do…"_

_Within about a minute and a half we were all set up and ready to go. Cloud had run back to his car and I was ready to do my part as I waited at the corner of Mr. Notter's front yard dangerously close to his line of sight. _

_I flicked the flashlight on and off in the direction of the street. Right on cue, Cloud drove around the corner with the headlights off. He drove by casually and his car pulled up a little past Mr. Notter's mailbox. I snuck a peek around and realized that Mr. Notter did even notice that Cloud's car had parked in front of his house._

_Okay. Ready…set…go!_

_I stepped around the side of the house just enough to let Yuffie see me. Her eyes widen and she knew that she had to distract Mr. Notter for just a second. "OH MY GOD! FIRE!!!" Yuffie screamed as she pointed back at his house. _

_He flipped around to see what she was pointing at and I sprinted, and I mean sprinted, across the yard!_

"_Hurry up! Run like you stole it!" I yelled. Yuffie and I threw ourselves into the car and Cloud varoomed off._

_We all released a sigh of relief after driving for a few minutes away from Mr. Notter's house. _

_After a moment of silence Yuffie exclaimed "That went well!" Cloud and I looked at each other and then at Yuffie. "WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU!!!!"_

_-End of flashback-_

Even though doing it had been possibly the stupidest idea of my life and all three of us served a month worth of detentions, it was worth it. It was definitely a funny memory that I didn't want to forget.

I blinked. Right, back to the main objective…Rufus. He was going down…but how? First I would probably need some information on him like where he was staying or what his schedule was for the remainder of the week. But where would I get that kind of information?

I put a finger on my chin and thought for a moment with pursed lips. A grin stretched across my face as the brilliant idea came to me. Yuffie wanted to hang out with Vincent after school since he was so 'awesome'. And supposedly Vincent and Rufus just _happened_ to transfer at the same time. Coincidence? I'm thinking not. This _is_ Rufus Shinra we're talking about.

All I had to do was indiscreetly press for information without being totally obvious. I knew that Yuffie would manage to drag Vincent along with us after school because she always managed to force people to do things. It was like a gift or something.

Now all I had to do was set the plan in motion.

I walked into the main building again carefully keeping an evil grin off my face as I headed for the small dining room (ALSO KNOWN AS THE JUNIOR ROOM). I found Yuffie in there 'studying' which really meant she was listening to her i-pod though most couldn't see it by the way she was hunched over her book.

"Hey Yuffie!" I said to get her attention

"…"

"YUFFIE."

"…"

"**YUFFIE!**"

"…"

"**HEY RETARD****!!!!!!**"

"Huh?" Yuffie looked up from her book. I sighed. Only she would actually respond to being called a retard. "I think we should invite Vincent to hang with us after school, I mean he is the new kid and all." I said casually with a shrug.

Of course, Yuffie immediately brightened and started blabbering about all the different places we should show him and what not. I nodded my head and agreed while she tried to decide on which places to take him to.

The first half of my plan was complete, now I just had to worm some answers out of Vincent.

"How does that sound to you?" Yuffie asked me with her head cocked. I blinked. "Fine…So what's the overall game plan again?" I asked innocently (attempting to look like I was paying attention to what she was saying.) "WELLL…I was thinking that we should go to the Gold Saucer cause' it's like, sooo much fun"

"Uh Yuffie? IT'S MONDAY!" I informed her rather bluntly. "I have wayyyy to much homework to go out on a school night, besides, I can't do whatever now that my dad is back…"

Yuffie frowned and then looked up at me curiously "Where was he anyways? And is there a reason why he didn't contact _anybody_?" I bit my lip. I kept making excuses for him but Yuffie was right. He _didn't_ do any of those things and he wouldn't tell me where he went. What really happened?

I just shrugged "I dunno know" I spoke casually like it wasn't a big deal "I didn't really ask him yet"

Yuffie frowned but let it go this time. "Alright then, how about we meet him at…" Yuffie once again went into 'deep thought'. "Ah-ha!" her face brightened. "What about we just go walk around town and think of what to do when we get there!"

I twitched. Was she serious? Whatever, as long as I got a chance to talk to Vincent "Yeah, okay whatever. Be sure to tell Vincent that we are all hanging out after school. Do you think he has a car?" I was _really_ not in the mood to walk all the way into town just to wander aimlessly since Yuffie's oh-so-brilliant mind couldn't come up with a real activity for us.

"For sure I'll tell him! No worries, I …borrowed my dads car without permission this morning sooo it's all good." I shook my head disapprovingly at the short girl in front of me but didn't say anything.

"Well, we can talk some more at lunch. I think the bell is gonna ring soon – " the bell rang and cut me off. I gave Yuffie an 'I told you so' look and headed off to my locker. "Catch up with you later."

"Yup!" she said cheerfully as she bounded off in the direction of her locker.

I turned my lock: 3-33-7. Easiest combo in the history of mankind. I opened up my locker and pulled out a blue binder labeled French 5. I grabbed my French 5 textbook and workbook and stacked them on top of each other. Not to brag or anything, but I'm a legit prodigy at French.

Fondamentalement, l'année dernière lors de mon dernier semestre d'être un étudiant en deuxième année en classe de seconde, je suis devenu un étudiant d'échange en France. Maintenant, je kick ass totalement à lui. C'est pourquoi je suis dans la plus haute classe de français. It totally rocks. Je suis à peu près couramment.

I shouldered a bag with my folders, writing utensils, my cell phone and iPod, calculator, assignment notebook, and other random crap in it. I used my hip to slam my locker shut.

I walked down the hall through the sea of people and up the steps to my class room which was inconveniently located on the THIRD FRICKEN FLOOR. I panted slightly when I reached the top of the stairs.

I shook it off and walked to the door with a French flag hanging from it. A sign read "bienvenue". I walked coolly through the door and practically choked. I kept a normal face, but barely. At the front of the room, Rufus Shinra was sitting _on the teacher's desk_ like he owned it or something.

I tried not to look too intrigued with him without seeming like I was totally ignoring him. I couldn't have him recognizing me.

"Bonjour mademoiselle" Rufus lifted his gaze lazily to mine. I tensed but then forced myself to relax. I smiled "Bonjour…Vous devez parler français bien d'être dans une telle catégorie élevée. Combien de temps avez-vous été le prendre?" (_Hello…you must speak French well to be in such a high class. How long have you been taking it?)_

He pursed his lips in thought and shrugged. "J'ai visité plusieurs fois la France quand j'étais plus jeune. Avant que je le réalise, je le parle couramment l'âge de douze ans. Et vous? Vous le parlez très bien l'examen ... eh bien, je suis sûr que vous êtes au courant." Basically he had lived in France and became fluent by age twelve and wanted to know how someone like _me _could be in such a high level of French. I suppressed my anger that was so ready to be set free and help tear this arrogant bastard to pieces.

I gave him a VERY tight smile. "Well, I suppose stranger things have happened." He shrugged but he was smirking at me. Why that stupid little-

"Bonjour!" Madame Garlose walked into class cheerfully waving to her students. When her eyes fell upon the new student she immediately brightened and beckoned him up. He smirked _at _me, and then suddenly began speaking PERFECT French. He introduced himself, said his dislikes and likes all, like I said, in perfect French. Oh, wait did I forget to mention that he didn't even have an accent? I groaned. This was just going to be one of those days.

**/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/**

**Things will probably get a tad more heated up in the next chapter, but for now, just REVIEW.**


	6. Potential Love Triangles?

Breath in, hold it…..breath out. I think that I might have done that 800,0000 times during the first FIVE MINUTES of French. Class was bad and progressively getting worse.

I could feel _him_ staring a hole in the back of my head, daring me to turn around and meet his gaze. But I refused. I wouldn't give that cocky little French speaking twit the satisfaction. I kept my gaze trained on the notes Madam Garlose was writing on the board.

My intense concentration was interrupted by the sound of paper flying through air. Just as I looked up, a neatly folded piece of paper landed in my lap. I paused, debating whether or not I should open it seeing as how _Rufus_ had thrown it. I didn't really want to encourage any sort of … relationship. I mean, I _did_ burn down his house.

I pursed my lips and shrugged. There was no harm in just _looking_ right? I unfolded the note slowly and cautiously to ensure that I wouldn't alert Madam Garlose to my lack of interest in her lesson.

_Is this class always this dull? By the way, in case you somehow missed the memo, I'm Rufus Shinra. But like I said, you'd have to be pretty out of the loop to not know that. _

It took all – and I mean all – of my strength to not tear that piece of paper into tiny scraps and punch him in the face. Instead I simply breathed in, held it, and let it out. Make that 800,001 times in the past 5 minutes. I paused with my pencil at the paper, thinking of a…appropriate response.

**Yes, it's always this boring and doesn't everyone know who you are? With that trademark smirk and snooty attitude I'd be able to point you out a mile away. Oh, and one more thing, don't bother sending this note back because I'm done talking to you. Au revoir Monsieur Shinra.**

I crumpled the note and chucked it back at him as soon as Madam Garlose turned to the board. I sneered at Rufus before returning to my normal position in my seat. I heard him unfold it and _chuckle_. HOW DARE HE LAUGH AT ME!!!!!!!!!!!

My hands balled into fists. I would not be able to sit through this. So I did the only thing I could think of to get out of this class. I calmed myself down and made sure to have that far away, tired look in my eyes. I made sure no anger, or excitement was splashed across my face before raising my hand.

"Oui, Tifa?" She turned to looked at me inquisitively, waiting for my response.

« Peux-j'aller s'il vous plaît au bureau de l'infirmière ? Je ne me sens pas vraiment bien…Ma tête blesser et..." [_May I please go to the nurse? I don't feel well…my head is pounding and…_] I let the let the sentence trail off for emphasis.

Within a matter of mere minutes, I had my nurse slip in hand and I was headed for the door when I heard that annoyingly, yet delightful (AND IRRITATING) voice. "Madam Garlose? Don't you think I should walk _Tifa_ –" damn, he learned my name…and he's smirking at me… "down to the nurse's? She clearly isn't feeling well and if she's running a high fever she could faint…"

Why that little – "Oh! How thoughtful monsieur Rufus! Go right ahead!"

Great. That's just great. Not only does he now know my name, but now he has to walk me down the nurse's which is literally at the exact opposite end of the school (bottom floor, in the opposite wing) thus making it a long walk = a long walk with _Rufus Shinra_ = hell, on a stick.

To keep up appearances, I smiled—in what appeared to be a grateful way—in Rufus' direction. "Thanks" I said in a 'sickly' voice. He smirked and walked towards me. In one graceful movement he took me into his arms and said in an undeniably sexy voice "Are you sure you are able to walk, I'd be happy to carry you." I felt my cheeks burning but couldn't do anything to stop it…he face was inches from mine and his sapphire blue eyes were stunning…

"N-no I…" I couldn't think straight with him this close to me and with his muscular arms wrapped around me.

He put a finger to my lips and my eyes widened. He put a hand on my forehead. "You're very warm, you're fever must be _very_ bad." If I didn't know any better, I could have _sworn_ he was mocking me.

"I'm sure it's not that bad" I said somehow regaining my cool. I jerked back and out of his arms and shook off his lingering warmth.

He shrugged and when I looked back at his eyes, there seemed to be something that looked vaguely like defeat resting in them. Maybe it was just my imagination but…still…

Anyways, I CANNOT BELIEVE HE DID THAT IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS!!! Stupid little – I sighed. I was just going to have to play "friendly" until he was out of my sight–and hopefully _life_–forever.

I tried my best not to storm down the hallway but with his constant chuckling echoing down the hallways from close behind, I was getting _really_ irritated. After one final chuckle after I stumbled on the ground while stomping away from him I snapped.

I flipped around "What's your problem? You're always so arrogant and cocky! Okay, yea I get it, you think you're better but so what? We're the same age and we're both speaking fluent French! Oh, and you think just because you can smooth talk a teacher and close a little distance between us that it makes you superior? Because if that's the case, boy do you have another thing coming!!!" I was panting slightly at the end of my speech, but as long as I got my point across, I didn't care.

He cocked his head to the side slightly, with a small smile—no, more like a curve of the lips—playing across his features. After a moment, he sighed and an annoying piece of his bangs fell into his beautiful blue eyes. "And I suppose that _you_" he looked me up in down in a rather insulting manner "can do anything to change the way I act? You actually believe that your little …speech could possibly have enough influence on me to change the way I act? Do you really think _you_ could _ever_ be good enough to be compared to _me_?"

Even though he was speaking in a very serious tone, there was a challenge to his words. It was almost like he was expecting me to meet the standard of fighting back. Maybe that's why he wouldn't leave me alone, because I kept "resisting him" and "playing hard to get" or whatever. Now that I think about it, he was probably used to getting what he wanted and probably only ever wanted the things he couldn't have.

That's when it came to me. The brilliant idea of how to get rid of this brat once and for all. I kept the evil grin from spreading from my face as I turned to face him.

I looked at my shoes as though to appear to embarrassed to even look at him. "Rufus, I–" I looked up at him in what would have been adoring way if I didn't hate the stupid teen "I…I think I love you". And then I did the one thing I thought I would never do, no matter what the circumstances. I flung my arms around his neck and kissed him.

He immediately stiffened on contact but after a second, he gently pried me off, with a strange look in his eye. He seemed genuinely confused. Perfect, all I had to do was keep up this little act and he would be out of my life in no time.

"Rufus, baby, what's wrong? Don't you think we are perfect for each other? I mean why else would you acknowledge my obvious hints to follow me out to the hallway when I told Madame I was going to the Nurse's?" I used the voice I save for mocking the cheerleaders of our school.

Rufus paused. His eyes narrowed at me, scrutinizing what I was saying. He was clearly determining whether I was lying or telling him the truth.

After a brief moment of thought he lips upturned once more before he said "Nothing. You're right. We are absolutely _perfect_ for each other."

I actually choked. "WHAT?!" I didn't even bother to try to cover up my obvious surprise. "I WOULD RATHER SHOOT MYSELF IN THE FACE WITH THAT SAW-OFFED SHOT GUN OF YOURS, THAN BE '_PEFECT_' WITH YOU!!!" I spat. No sooner had I said the words than I realized that I probably looked like a schizophrenic freak who contradicts everything she says, and a stalker who knew what kind of gun he carried. Crap.

I covered my mouth and wished I could take back the words that had leaked from in between my lips but knew I couldn't.

But Rufus didn't look at all surprised, in fact he looked triumphant. "I had a feeling it was you. I mean besides from the obvious fact that you have the same eyes and hair color, you also did a horrendous job of trying to cover up that cut of yours. Not to mention you also managed to admit that you knew what type of gun I had. I have only encountered one person in the past 5 days of my arrival that has seen my gun. If you thought you could hide from Shinra, oh what was it again, oh _right_, 'boy you have another thing coming'"

Just when I thought his smirk couldn't get any wider, it did. He obviously thought he had "won" but this battle was _far_ from being over.

"Oh no you caught me!" I put my hands up in the air in the most mocking way possible "Big whoop. What are you going to do? Call the police? Tell the school? Because truth be told, I honestly don't give a crap. You can do whatever you want, as long as you stay the hell away from me." I moved until I was about 2 inches from his face "YOU GOT THAT? Stay away from me."

I turned and started to walk away from him when he grabbed my wrist. I flipped around and tried to yank it from his grasp but his grip was like a strong unbreakable iron chain.

"Don't' count on it. This is far from over."

He let my wrist go and turned away from me to head back to class. As he walked his expensive shoes clicked against the neatly polished floor.

I stood there fore a moment before realizing he got the last say in the argument. GOD DAMN IT! HE GOT THE LAST WORD! I mentally smacked myself but decided not to spend another second's worth of thought about him. I walked down the stairs, heading from the nurse's office. Looks like he didn't escort me after all. And even though he was an ultra – mega – super jerk, I couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of disappointment.

**RUFUS' POV**

The second he turned his back on her, Rufus smiled. She really was something. This "Tifa" was turning out to be much more difficult to conquer than he had originally thought. And if nothing else, Rufus Shinra _loved_ a good challenge.

**CLOUD'S POV**

Cloud stood in complete shock as the scene played over and over again in his mind.

"_I…I think I love you". Tifa flung her arms around Rufus and kissed him._

Cloud couldn't believe it. After everything that had happened, and everything that Shinra had done to them, she thought she _loved him_? NO. That couldn't be right. After seeing _that_ little scene unfold it was all he could but to walk away before anything _else_ might have happened.

Cloud sat down on the steps and put his head in his hands. Wasn't everyone always saying that Tifa loved _him_? Wasn't everyone always saying that she would do anything for _him_? Wasn't it _him_ and not _Shinra_?

If that was how it was going to be then fine. He would just have to win Tifa over. It didn't really matter if he might have like Aerith, what really mattered was the fact that Tifa was giving that Shinra _ass hole_ exactly what he wanted. He had promised Tifa he would save her when ever she needed help and she was in _serious _trouble if she thought Shinra was the one for her.

Cloud was going to show Tifa who the real man was. He was going to take her back from that bastard.


	7. Live now, pay later

I walked through the nurse's office door still a little peeved about the whole "Rufus Incident" but whatever. The sweet, elderly and somewhat fragile-looking nurse looked up when I entered "OH dear! What's the matter with you? What can I do for you?" she asked in that very grandmotherly way.

I half smiled "I just need to lay down I think" I said giving her the slight hint. She winked then said "Oh sure – I wont tell em' a thing!" she giggled like a school girl to her self and I smiled. You've got to love a good nurse who'll let you sleep away your free periods!

I walked over to the small bed and laid down in the freshly made sheets and pulled a crisp, white blanket over myself. I pulled out my ipod earbuds and stuck them in my ears. I went to my usual playlist determined to block out all the thoughts of Rufus with music.

I scrolled down quite a bit before selecting "Somebody to Love" by Leighton Meester. The songs started and of course the very first line: Paris, France to Michigan. UGH. Paris as in the French speaking city as in French as in French class with _Rufus_. Ugh.

Alright Tifa, get a grip. It's a _song_ for god sake. I had just begun to relax and sink into the stiff pillow when the French verse reciting Je t'adore, Je t'adore, AKA "I love you, I love you" in French came in.

_I…I think I love you_ *insert kiss here*

"Arggg!!" I yanked the pillow out from under my head and brought it back down on top of my face. Why was I trying so hard to ignore him and forget about him? Was it because despite what I said, he _was extremely attractive_ (minus the obnoxious actions and MAJOR ego-attitude-personality issue) ?

"So what?" I tried to reassure myself "Looks? Right, it's not like being attractive can make that person like you..." I mumbled into my pillow not really sure who I was trying to convince.

I sighed and closed my eyes finally letting myself be relieved by quiet, peaceful sleep.

* * *

"Tifa?"

"…"

"Tifa???"

"Wha-?"

"Tifa come on! What are you doing? He's waiting for you!!!" Yuffie was pestering me to get up from the ground? Where I WAS LAYING IN A FLUFFY RED DRESS?!?!!?

I jerked up. "_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" _I was seething…and confused.

Yuffie laughed "I know you're probably nervous and stuff but don't get all 'crazy psycho' on me now! Besides your" she knit her hands together and painted an adoring, yet obviously intended to be mocking, facial expression across her face "beloved prince charming is waiting for you!"

"_WHAT?!!?!?_" I was _really_ confused and getting more and more pissed by the minute. "I don't know who this 'prince charming' character that you made up came from but seriously don't drag me into this! How many times do I have to tell you I don't want to be part of you're evil schemes…"

Yuffie sniffled and gave me a pouty face "But…But Tifa" her lower lip jutted out and her eyes watered up.

"Ugh. Fine." Yuffie jumped up and immediately opened her mouth "UNDER ONE CONDITION!" Her expression dampened a little but still remained mostly intact "I get to take the dress off"

Yuffie's mouth opened in what would have been protest but she seemed to change her mind "Uh, if you say so …"

That was weird… usually she argued more but whatever.

I attempted – attempted, being the key word there – to unzip myself but since by dress had a diving, and I mean DIVING, back (you know what, who am I kidding, this stupid dress didn't even _cover_ my back!) so I didn't see a zipper at first. Then I remembered dresses like these had zippers on the side.

I chuckled to myself realizing just how long it had been since I'd last been in a dress. I had just started to unzip it when the door (WHEN DID THAT GET THERE…AND WEHRE EXACTLY IS _HERE_ ANYWAYS?!?!) opened and Rufus stood before me.

"Darling, what are you doing?" He said as he gracefully came to my side and smoothly pulled the zipper up all within in, what? The course of 7 seconds? Maybe 8?

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME …._DARLING_?!?!?!!?" I screeched.

He blinked. "Of course. You confessed your love to me and now we are betrothed..." He gazed curiously at me. "Are you feeling alright?" He put a hand to my forehead in an oh-so familiar manner. Déjà vu much?

I jerked away and stood up. "What the heck is going on? Is this some kind of prank or…"

I could here a distant "Tifa?" echoing in the background…

* * *

I woke up to Cloud's voice "Tifa are you okay?"

I jerked upright out of the bed. "A dream?" I panted. Phew. Good thing too because I was seriously about to have a heart att – WAIT…I just had a dream, well, more accurately a nightmare but still, I just dreamed about…_Rufus Shinra_….

"OH GOD." I fell back onto my pillow. "This is bad, Cloud. Very bad." I paused. "What are you doing her anyways? Shouldn't you be in class?" I asked with a wry grin

He raised his eyebrows "Shouldn't you?"

I grinned "Touché. So since you're here in the nurse, I'm lead to assume one of three things."

An amused look flitted crossed his boyish features "Oh? And what would they be?"

I looked up at him " 1) You didn't get enough sleep and therefore are in the nurse to sleep ,2) Class is boring so you're cutting by being "sick" and going to the nurse, or 3) you have a free period and you were bored."

Cloud laughed as he turned to me. "Well more like a combination of the first and second one but still."

I laughed – isn't it funny how he can make me laugh all the time? Even though I swore to myself that I wouldn't ever like Cloud like _that_ again I can't exactly _ignore_ that warm tingly feeling in my stomach when he smiles at me…

"So Tif…I was thinking that since we're both cuttin' class, why not just ditch school today? I mean it's no biggie, it's just one day! They won't even know we're gone! They'll just think we were in the nurse and went home sick! What'd say?"

"I dunno Cloud…" This kind of thing was more Yuffie's expertise and my experience with Yuffie was that this kind of thing _always_ came back to get her. But then again, spending the rest of the day with Cloud and not having to deal with the Rufus problem _did_ sound like a lot more fun then staying around school and going to classes for lectures…

"Are you sure we won't get caught?" I said quietly trying not to make his victory seem so evident. Too late. That adorable boyish grin spread across his face and his blue eyes crinkled.

"Absolutely!"

I sighed, but couldn't help but keep a small smile from spreading across my lips. "Let's go now. If we're going to do it, then let's do it soon."

"Sounds good to me! You can just ride with me on the back of my bike, alright?" He asked quietly as he looked around the corner of doorway into the nurse's office.

"Kay" I whispered as he gave me a thumb's up AKA the coast is clear.

We both ran out of the office and down the hallway. Within 2 minutes and 30 seconds I was mounting the back of Cloud's black motorcycle.

"Just hold onto me okay?" Cloud yelled over the roar of the engine.

I blushed once he looked away and nodded into his back and I wrapped my arms around him.

The engine roared once more and the bike surged forward and we were off.

**RUFUS' POV**

Unfortunately _Tifa_ didn't return to the remainder of French class but Rufus' supposed that was to be expected. He didn't think he had exactly made her… _comfortable_.

He smirked to himself and glanced up at the short black hair girl sitting in front of him. As boring as listening to the rules of safety in basketball for coed PE he didn't think it was actually necessary to text a friend as the girl in front of him did.

He was just about to turn away with that little smirk on his face when he noticed _who_ she was texting.

To: Yuffie

From: Tifa

19 October 2009

11:28 AM

Subject: RE: where the hell r u??

OMG! You'll never guess!!! I'm WITH CLOUD!!!!

The petite girl giggled while shaking her head as the tap-tap from the keyboard followed. By now the smirk was completely wiped off of Rufus' face and only two questions came to mind:

Who is Cloud?

And

Why is it "_Cloud_" and not "_Rufus_"?

To: Tifa

From: Yuffie

19 October 2009

11:28 AM

Subject: RE: where the hell r u??

NOOO WAY. I mean it is like SOOO rare to run into him considering you GO TO THE SAME SCHOOL!!! Jk jk. Are you guys like ditching together or something?!!? OMG that is sooo cute! Give me _all_ the details when you get back…I guess Vinnie and I will be on our own after school…unless you wanna meet up??

Rufus twitched as he watched this friend of Tifa type out the message. Ditching _together_. Rufus was really going to need to step it up. He wasn't fully aware of the…competition. Not that it would really matter in the long run anyways, he always got what he wanted, competition or no competition. It was still good to be well informed.

To: Yuffie

From: Tifa

19 October 2009

11:29 AM

Subject: RE: where the hell r u??

UGH we are sooo not like that…I WISH. I doubt there will be any "details" butttt I'll definitely keep you posted. Lol if I come back in a good mood you'll know why ;)

Ps. I'm not so sure hanging together with Vinnie is a good idea…Cloud's a little…_weary_ of him. He's convinced he's with Rufus Shirna…I mean I hate Rufus just as much as the next kid but it's like Cloud's out to kill the guy, ya' know?

Rufus was surprised by her response. He couldn't imagine there not being…"details". Tifa was definitely attractive and it was clear that she and this Cloud guy had _some_ sort of history. And as for Vincent…

Clearly Cloud was smarter than he looked which still didn't say much, all things considered. Yes, Rufus thought to himself, Vincent and him did come together. Vincent was Rufus' hired body guard, turk, whatever term he felt like throwing around. Either way, Vincent was completely, 100% loyal to him and would do as he said.

Perhaps this 'outing' Vincent was invited on could serve to be useful. Rufus mentally reminded himself to order Vincent to accept the invitation.

A loud whistle snapped everyone out of either texting, talking to a friend, daydreaming, or thinking. "Unless someone can restate what I've said in the past five minutes everyone get ready for some laps."

—silence—

"Laps it is then."

There was a collective groan from the group of teenagers. The girl – Yuffie – snapped her phone shut, and all of the information of Tifa and Cloud's going ons with it.

It looked like Rufus was just going to have someone how find some sort of patience and wait for the turn out tomorrow. He grumbled to himself. There was _nothing_ Rufus hated more in the world than not being in control and waiting.

**NORMAL POV**

Cloud and Tifa had been all around town trying on random sunglass or hats at boutiques or stopping to buy little shiny trinkets that appealed to them. By the time an hour had passed, they were both tired and in need of a little lunch to get them by.

Tifa watched the condensation roll down the side of her glass filled with pink lemonade. She looked up to find Cloud's deep blue eyes gazing intently at her. She blushed a little. "Soo…" Tifa started trying not to over analyze the seemingly 'intimate' moment she thought they'd just shared…

"Tifa I—"

"Cloud I just wanted to say that—"

They both froze up, realizing they were speaking at the same time. They laughed. "You go first" Cloud insisted. "No! You! I interrupted you first…"

Cloud shrugged and looked a little embarrassed before starting "Tifa…I know this is sudden but…" Tifa's phone vibrated silently in her pocket. She slid it and flipped it open silently under the table without leaving Cloud's gaze. "I jus think we should…" in that quick moment Cloud looked down in embarrassment, Tifa pressed 'read text from unknown number'.

"I THINK WE SHOULD GO OUT SOMETIME…like on a date…or something…" Cloud looked up sheepishly at Tifa who met his gaze while the text loaded.

The weight of his words finally registered and Tifa's jaw literally dropped. "I – I …I don't know what to say…." Tifa was very reluctant and yet excited. She had always had feelings for Cloud…and those very feelings are what had given her heartbreak in the past years…

"Can I have time to think things over?" Tifa asked slowly

"Of course! There's no rush." Cloud grinned widely at her and reassured her.

Tifa spared a glance down at her phone's screen seeing as how the message had loaded by this time…

To: Tifa

From: unknown number

19 October 2009

12:34 PM

Subject:

Unless you wish to find your father gone once again when you return home, it is highly advisable to accept Rufus Shinra's invitation he will offer to you tomorrow morning. After all, you wouldn't want to be rude, now would you?

Tifa tried to keep a calm expression and tried to swallow around the lump that was forming in her throat.

"Tifa? Something the matter?" Blue eyes looking deeply into her wine colored orbs searching for an answer.

"Me? Nah!" Tifa smiled but knew that it wouldn't keep up for long "I'm just sort of tired all of a sudden…"

"Want to go home?"

"Yeah…sorry but these past few day have just been…crazy" Tifa smiled but it wasn't enthusiastic and turned out as more of a grimace.

Cloud quickly paid the bill and soon the pair were racing towards Tifa's small home on Cloud's motorcycle.

When they arrived she quickly hopped off gave him a quick thanks and raced inside. Once on the other side of the door she slumped against the wall and let the tears of anger, frustration, confusion, and every other emotion spill over.

What was she going to do?

* * *

**A/N**

**Well let me start off by saying, yes I know I am 100% completely and totally abusive to any and all readers for not updating in a timely manner but honestly guys? That's life. **

**I do find that when I get more reviews I write chapters faster *HINT HINT***

**Lol review! Merci!!!!**


	8. Staking Claims

**A/N**

**Okay so as always I take forever to update but I did work pretty hard on getting a lot of stuff – like things we have all been wondering about – cleared up so in return I ask that you simply REVIEW. That is all!**

**Enjoy!**

**~emma**

* * *

**Tifa's POV**

I splashed the cold water from the kitchen sink on my face. I used a fluffy white towel that smelled like Downy to dry my dripping face. I let out a huge sigh as I leaned on the kitchen counter. I was done with useless tears, they weren't helping and they were definitely not fixing anything. I needed a real, _legit_ solution if I wanted to accomplish ANYTHING.

I squared my shoulders slightly as I took on a determined stance. I wasn't going to let this Shinra kid rule my life. No, I was going to live my life freely. Free of Rufus Shinra, that is. _BING BING._ My ringer for my phone indicating a new text message went off.

I walked slowly over to the kitchen table and clicked the "open" button.

To: Tifa

From: Cloud

19 October 2009

1:12 PM

Subject: how r u?

Hey Tiff! Just checking to see if ur ok! U seemed upset? I just wanted to make sure ur okay…text me when u can

My heart skipped a beat when I read over the text. _I just wanted to make sure you're okay…_He was …shall I dare say…he was _worried_ about me?

I wasn't sure whether I felt like crying out in joy or doing a happy dance around the kitchen. I am NOT one of those girls who will reread a text eight times to figure out the "secret meanings" behind every word, but this text definitely was saying _something_.

I think that Cloud might…_like_ me~!! I needed to text Yuffie right away!

To: Yuffie

From: Tifa

19 October 2009

1:14 PM

Subject: BEST NEWS EVER! KYA~!!!!

OMG!!!!!! GUESS WHAT?!?! I THINK CLOUD LIKES ME!!!!!!!!!

I was so excited. This could be JUST the thing I needed. A steady relationship that could help support me through these…bumpy times. I mean, between my dad just suddenly reappearing and all this trouble with Rufus, I really needed a guy in my life to balance everything out!

FOCUS. Okay I need to respond to Cloud…but what should I say? AHHHH guys are such a pain sometimes. I chuckled quietly to myself but was interrupted by the slam of a car door. SHIT. I just realized something very crucial:

I AM AT HOME. I SHOULD BE AT SCHOOL. MY DAD IS HERE. HE'S GOING TO KICK MY ASS.

I silently sprinted up the stairs to my room, panicked in the frenzy of things I hid under the bed more for the sake of the moment than anything else. For an even extra effect I held my breath to hear him better.

I heard my dads thick boots move through the kitchen and thud up the stairs. My heart started pounding as he approached my door. He wouldn't come in my room and snoop around or anything…would he?

The little "faith" I had in my father assuming he would respect my privacy quickly evaporated as my door opened without hesitation. I held my breath again as I realized he was on the phone with someone…

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not like you need to tell me…" he chuckled slightly at something the person on the other line said "yeah well, be sure to tell President Shinra that just cause' I'm working for him doesn't mean he owns me…" more laughter. By this point he was roaming through my drawers and digging through my desk.

President _Shinra_!?!? Since when did my dad work for _Shinra_?!?!

"Nah, I don't think so…Not ALL teenager girls have diaries ya' know, then again, I guess _you_ would know better than me, Elena..." _Elena?_ As in one of the top _Turks of Shinra, _Elena?!?! By now, he had walked over to the bed and seemed to be digging under pillows looking for a non existent diary. I personally find them completely ridiculous. Why would I write down all my secrets so people like _my_ _father_ can read them?!?

Despite feeling surprisingly grateful for not having a diary, I was still _pissed_. How DARE my dad come search through my room! When he was still around he NEVER did this kind of thing! If he was worried about me, he could approach me! We always had a good kind of relationship! What happened?

My dad sighed in exasperation – he thought he was exasperated now?!?! Wait til' he had my fist in his face! – as he turned on one heel and headed back towards the door "No luck Elena…besides, what does it matter? What's with the interest in this _girl_? She's nothing special, take it from me. I would know, I've been posing as her dad for a couple of days now. She totally buys it…it's stupid really…"

That's when time stopped. And for a split second I realized I wasn't _sad_ that this man – this _imposter_ – wasn't my father. He didn't have the same kind smile, or gentle eyes as my father. I was _comforted_ by the fact that my father wasn't a lying, sneaking, jerk. I was, however sad that I was tricked and manipulated and that for whatever the reason, Shinra toyed with my number one weakness for their convenience. And for that, they would pay.

A rage so fierce I didn't know I could ever hold such strong emotions, gave me strength I never knew I had or more importantly, needed.

"My father" walked through the doorway and out into the hallway. "Yeah well I'll talk to you later…I'm gonna check back in at HQ with you guys later…I need a break from that annoying girl, I hate having to keep up this act, ugh" After a brief goodbye he hung up the phone and continued down the hall to "his" bedroom.

That's when I knew. I was about to tear this guy to shreds and I wasn't going to show mercy. I rolled out from under my bed and walked calmly, and quietly to his room.

I could hear the bathroom sink on through the closed door. I sat down calmly on the edge of his bed after closing the bedroom door with an almost inaudible click. I crossed my legs and waited in eager anticipation for what was to come.

I heard a ruffling of hair as though he was trying to get out a large knot out with a comb. "Damn wig" was all I could make out from through the door.

The door opened and out came a blonder version of my late father. I was going to have fun with this, after all, I need a punching bag to get out all this excess anger. I smiled wickedly "Hello _father."_

**Rufus' POV**

School was unexpectedly boring with the knowledge of Tifa's absence. Rufus strummed his fingers on his desk absentmindedly. How to win over Tifa's heart? Her hate for his father's company and his family name was quite apparent. Then again, Rufus had his looks, intelligence, and charm on his side. He smirked slightly.

No girl – and some guys – no matter how stubborn, could resist him for long. He suspected Tifa would be no different. But how to deal with Strife, yes that was the real question. He had made Vincent give him a brief description of Cloud's background and record but he hadn't found anything too out of the ordinary. Which really meant that he hadn't found anything that he could use to manipulate him into doing his bidding. For example, the kid had a pretty clean record. No major crimes. Nothing big enough that could be wielded in the process of driving him away from Tifa. No, Rufus was going to have to win this one the hard way.

Rufus frowned but only slightly as his mind calculated all the different ways to deal with this "problem". His spinning mind was put to a sudden halt when Mr. Harrison – the AP English teacher – turned his evil gaze onto Rufus who despite everything still appeared to be paying attention.

"And what would _your_ interpretation on the poem of _The Lady of Shalott_ be Mr. Shinra?" Mr. Harrison scrutinizing gaze met Rufus' cold glare. Despite not having heard any of the poem that was read aloud or the discussion about it afterwards Rufus' memory was flawless.

He had read the poem before and it was because of this that he was able to without even the slightest bit of hesitation or uncertainty to Mr. Harrison and say "The said 'Lady of Shalott' is a woman who is supposedly locked in a tower. None of the farmers know who she is despite hearing her singing early in the morning before dawn and believe her to be a spirit or 'fairy'. Yet despite being somewhat unknown she is not unhappy. She is 'weaving her picture' which is basically a way of saying that she is an artist—a painter, that depicts her work in bright colors. Yet after painting a picture of a group of people she discovers how lonely her life is and becomes discontent with it. It briefly describes Lancelot who 'flashes' into lady shalott's mirror –the way she sees out the window—which according to her, is a very bright sight compared to the usual dark and dull images on the mirror. Lancelot then begins to sing which leads lady Shalott to look out the window. At that point Tennyson suggests the fullness of life that the Lady cannot avoid any longer. Yet even after giving into the curse mentioned earlier in the poem that will affect her if she looks out the window, she does not actually see Lancelot. The events that are presented as "actually" happening being explained as symbols of what is going on in the Lady's head: in this interpretation, the moment the woman becomes involved in the outside world her sense of self (the mirror) and of her accomplishments (the tapestry) comes apart, as if social interaction is a curse to the ego—"

"That will be enough Mr. Shinra." Mr. Harrison stated curtly. Rufus shrugged but the trademark smirk was spreading across his face.

Murmurs of approval and amusement spread through the class after they realized that Rufus had gotten the better of the infamous Mr. Harrison. Rufus was getting quite the reputation. He hoped that by the end of the week, he would be near, if not at, the top of the school. 'All in a matter of days' he thought arrogantly to himself, smirk still in place.

**Tifa's POV**

Surprise. Anger. Doubt. Confusion. More anger. All of these were the emotions playing across the intruder's—AKA the man who posed as my father—face. "Surprised? Yeah, I would be to, but then again, you seem like the type of person who would _love_ springing surprises on people. Especially people who you decide to play _family_ with."

"This…it's not…I…uh…it's not like…I mean…" beads of sweat were forming on his forehead as the blonde man stuttered and tried to form a sentence but couldn't find any words.

I raised an eyebrow, keeping my expression creepily calm "That's all you have to say? That was a pretty sad excuse if you ask me. If I had been in your place I would at least have a backup plan or _something_." My somewhat joking manner was definitely freaking this guy out—just like I had hoped. Not to worry though, in about 30 seconds I would pound him for information and beat his sorry ass until he was no longer recognizable as anything but road kill.

The man backed away until he bumped into the desk which moved slightly but not enough to give him the kind of clearance he was going to need to be in a "safe zone".

I waltzed slowly up, circling him in a clearly dangerous manner. "What's the matter? You wouldn't be afraid of lil' ol' me, would you? After all, I am an annoying, _stupid_ girl anyways, right?"

He swallowed hard "They…they said that if I thought you were onto me, it would be better to pull out quietly because you had …gotten some sort of…training…" by now I could tell his mouth was probably dry because his words were coming out in little gasps and he looked like he was having trouble swallowing.

"OH really? That's interesting…and what sort of _training_ have I had?" I used a sickly sweet tone. I had an even more dangerous gracious smile grace its way across my features as I swayed casually a little closer, closing in on my 'prey'. He flinched back.

He swallowed again, sweat forming on his upper lip. Despite playing the role of a middle aged man, at a closer glance he looked younger, more vulnerable. He lacked experience. He probably could have been 25 give or take a few years. I had to wonder, despite myself, how I had fallen for this lame act.

His breath was becoming ragged; this was clearly _not_ a Turk or even a lowly ranked soldier. He looked pathetic. "They said…um, they said that you were trained in martial arts and ...Something else but I can't remember. All I know is that…I wasn't—"

_Ring……ring……ring……ring……_

Both of our gazes flickered to my phone that I had forgotten to put on silence where it was glowing in my pocket.

I sighed dramatically. "Hold that thought for just a sec" I said putting up one finger.

I clicked the green button and said "hello?" without once taking my eyes off the intruder who seemed to be getting more and more frantic as the seriousness of the situation sunk in. I was going to kick his ass.

"KYYYAAAAAAA~~~~~!!!! Tifa! This is so exciting! I can't even believe that you and Cloud are a thing!!!!" Yuffie's squealing was practically _raping_ my ears.

With a little more force than I had intended I responded with a simple "I'm _busy _right now. I'll talk to you later." And in that moment that I looked down to end the call, I let my guard down, and I regretted it instantly.

"Blondie" whipped out a gun faster than I thought possible and fired off three simultaneous shots. (Looks like he had the training from Shinra after all. I take it back, looks like he had some balls in the end.)

Unfortunately because of the short distance and little time I had to prepare myself for the attack I wasn't able to dodge affectively or at all really.

I instantly felt the first two bullets' stinging burn spreading. 'Looks like I managed to dodge the third one after all' I thought to myself bitterly, inwardly chuckling at my own ignorance. The world was going fuzzy and all I could understand was that my abdomen and lower left shoulder area felt like they were on fire.

"**TIFA?!?!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!!! I'LL BRING HELP OR SOMETHING, JUST HOLD ON!!! ANSWER ME, TIFA!!!! TIFA!!!! TIFA!!!!!**" I could hear Yuffie's screaming even as the phone fell from my hand and I hit the floor.

I didn't have time to respond though because I blissfully embraced the black that took me away from the spreading pain.

**Rufus' POV**

Rufus was on his way to the later lunch period when he passed the door. Through the window he saw the girl who had been texting Tifa in PE screaming desperately into her cellphone.

Through the door he could make out the words "I'll bring help or something, just hold on! Answer me, Tifa!!! Tifa!!! Tifa!!!!"

Within the second, Rufus was out the door and headed for the petite girl. "Miss, is there something wrong?" Rufus asked in his most 'gentleman' like voice trying not to let the panic slip into it.

Between, half sobs, half gasps the girl managed to spit out "Tifa…my friend…she…the gun shots…she wasn't…responding."

Rufus' eyes narrowed, though only slightly. Someone had dared to shoot one of Rufus' 'targets' -- AKA a girl he was after, but whatever --? '_Someone_ has got a hell of a whole lot of nerve touching _my_ girl' he thought already fuming at the thought.

Despite his raging thoughts, he kept a calm exterior expression. "Where does she live? Is she even at home?" Rufus asked with a little more impatience than he had intending for but _still_.

"I…I think she's home! I can take you there, d-do you have a c-c-ca-car?" the girl stuttered through her sentence though by the end of it, Rufus had already grabbed her wrist and was towing her towards the parking lot.

"Yeah, come on, we've got only a little time before whoever potentially shot her will get away, and that is _not_ an option. By the way, what did you say your name was?" The dark beginning of his sentence was quiet, eerily so, but lit up and hidden by the bright, and friendly question at the end.

"Y-Yuffie."

"Alright then Yuffie, hop in." Rufus said as he climbed in a brand new (not even fricken available to the public, supposedly) black 2012 Lamborghini Murcielago.

They sped down the road making record time—4 minutes and 58 seconds—to Tifa's home. (Top speed recorded was 156 miles per hour, just as a side note of course.) Rufus handled the car with grace and eloquence and when he stepped out the car, he seemed completely unaffected by the fact that he had been going over 100 miles per hour over the speed limit on most of the roads.

"Wait in the car." It was clearly _not _a debatable topic and his low, but serious voice made it apparent that Rufus was not going to be argued with.

Yuffie nodded and locked her car door. Rufus wasted no time getting in the house. He walked in silently but waited to pull out his own weapon of choice – a sawed of shotgun, of course – until out of sight of Yuffie.

He glanced around the corner but didn't have to check any of the main floor's room when he heard a low, quick pace voice coming from an upstairs room. Rufus followed the panicked voice coming from up the stairs. He could barely make out the muffled voice but managed to confirm that he was in fact the shooter by the conversation the man seemed to be having with someone over the phone.

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!!?? I mean……._yes I know_!! She was going to kill….—well not really…I just…I _know_ I shouldn't have shot her but what did you want me to do?!?! She figured it out!! ……..Wait…I think I hear something…hold on." There was a sound of a phone clunking on the table and Rufus cursed inwardly for stepping on the creaky stair.

Not wanting to be found, but rather the finder, Rufus immediately raced up the remaining stairs and swiftly knocked the man out as he came slinking around the corner by hitting a pressure point on the back of the neck with his gun.

"Scum." Rufus muttered distastefully under his breath. Stepping into the master bedroom, Rufus did not find a pleasant sight. Tifa was lying in a pool of her own blood, her white shirt soaked thoroughly in the crimson liquid. Her breathing was ragged and shallow. From what Rufus could tell, there were at least two shots.

While lifting up Tifa gently, he picked up the phone sitting on the table and put it to his ear. "Hello?" He said imitating the man's voice as much as possible.

"OH hey, Jonathon, what was it?" An all too familiar voice questioned on the other line.

"_Elena_." Rufus hissed in a _very_ deadly, flat tone.

There was a pause on the other line "…Mr. Shinra?" she squeaked.

"We'll discuss this later." Rufus was seething as he hung up the phone but now wasn't the time. Tifa was unnaturally pale and the bleeding wasn't stopping.

Rufus quickly shed his jacket and applied pressure to both of the wounds hoping there weren't any others that he wasn't aware of. With his other hand he dialed 911. An ambulance was on the way, Rufus only hoped it would get there soon…

* * *

**A/N**

**Alright, alright, I'll fess up. Even though I was whining about 'how hard I worked on this chapter' I actually had a lot of fun writing it. Please let me know what your thoughts are. If you don't like it, TELL ME WHY. If you loved it, EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT YOU LOVE. Lol, I **_**like**_** reading your reviews! You like reading my chapters and to be totally honest, when I don't get a lot of reviews, it doesn't exactly motivate me to write anytime soon, so yeah…**

**Review like it was one of the ten commandments, people!**

**Lol, seriously, do it!**

**~Emma**


	9. Relationships the Good and the Bad

_**Emma louve:**_

_** Sorry I took forever to update. Lots going on, been so busy, and I know this is a short one. I'm going to start updated more but in smaller amounts – I can do it better like that!!**_

_**I know it's a lot to ask considering the fact that I've been sorta rejecting and abusing ya'll but it would be AMAZING motivation for me (plus I love reading them) if you guys would pretty please [WITH CHERRIES ON TOP OF COURSE ;)] **__**review**__** !! thank you and I promise the next update will be within the coming up week! **_

**TIFA'S POV**

_Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…_

I slowly tried to lift my VERY heavy eyelids only to be greeted with an entourage of color and fuzzy images. I blinked again slowly, not bothering to try to sit up, knowing I didn't have the strength. My mouth felt dry and I felt drowsy or fuzzy – maybe I was on pain killers…

"Oh dear! She's awake!" I heard a lot of shuffling until finally what I was assuming, was a nurse leaned over the side of my now suddenly white bed …? White? Where was I, a hospital? What happened?

Suddenly able to focus as my vision cleared up I glanced up at the nurse through partially opened eyes. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything? _Are you in pain_?" the last question asked with more emphasis then the others.

I opened my mouth to speak, but found it was too dry to form any words so instead I just shook my head, no. The nurse ran through a white door and came back with a cup of water. I used a shaky hand to take it from her and bring it to my dry lips. I took several large swallows.

"Thanks" I croaked quietly. I glanced down at my left wrist – an IV was in place with a tube attached to a bag of dripping fluids. I cringed, I'd never been overly enthralled by needles.

I paused and then looked back up at the nurse who was watching me eagerly.

"I …um, why I am here?" It probably seemed like a stupid question but my last few memories were extremely fuzzy – what day was it? Last I recalled it was October…19th? Maybe? I think Cloud dropped me off and then I … what had I been doing?

"You don't remember? Oh dear…oh dear…well, I think the young man who saved your life should probably tell you what happened. You're VERY lucky he happened to drop by when he did otherwise you might not be alive. I'll go get him for you."

Great. She didn't even KIND OF answer my question. I sighed. Well, I guess I was going to have to ask my 'savior' all these questions…come to think of it…MAYBE IT WAS CLOUD!!!!

I smiled to myself, hoping that he would be the one walking through the white door in a moment. I held my breath, waiting excitedly.

Through the door I could hear the nurse speaking softly. "She's still very tired…and a bit out of it so be sure to…tell her _gently_. I'm not sure she really remembers any of it, it could be quite a shock." I didn't hear the reply that came from the low, quiet voice but it sounded something like a reassurment.

Through the small window on the door I saw a flash of blonde and my heart skipped a beat. _Cloud!_

And then it went back to normal as I realized I was not facing a spiky blonde, but rather a completely _big headed_ blond. And yet despite my disappointment about it not being Cloud I still wasn't pissed off by the fact that _Rufus_ was here…what was happening to me?

"Tifa…I…." Rufus, for once in his life, looked _human_. Worried, tired, happy, upset, nervous, excited and another great many emotions that stretched all across the spectrum could be seen in his eyes and face. Rufus didn't meet my eyes, as though it pained him to see me this way.

"Rufus…what happened?" I asked softly, willing him to have his eyes meet with my own two wine orbs. As though the memory inflicted some sort of pain, Rufus cringed slightly, and to think, I was the one in the hospital bed comforting _him_.

"You…you really don't remember? Anything?" Rufus asked as he slowly drew his gaze up to mine.

I thought hard, trying to go through hour by hour of my day but couldn't quite remember what happened after Cloud dropped me off at my house. I dug deeper…I had…texted Yuffie I think…and then…….nothing. I couldn't remember anything after that.

I shook my head "Sorry, but I can't remember anything other than being at my house…"

Rufus gritted his teeth slightly. "You _really_ can't remember anything? Getting shot twice isn't exactly something you can _forget_, Tifa." My eyes widened.

"…shot??" I squeaked.

Rufus blinked his gorgeous blue eyes "Um, yeah. What did you _think_ did that to you?" I followed his gaze towards my torso and then to my shoulder.

With hesitant fingers I lightly touched the shoulder wound and was met with a sharp pain. I jerked my hand back immediately just as Rufus gently took my hand between his two pale ones.

"I'm really sorry Tifa…" Rufus said refusing to meet my eyes. I cocked my head, confused. _Wasn't he the one who had saved me? If so then why was he apologizing all of a sudden?_ Rufus took a deep breath and then sat on the edge of the bed and met my eyes with a strong, but sad look. "You need to know. That man…the one who you thought was your father—" I gasped.

He didn't have to say another word because just as soon as he said the words 'the one who you _thought_ was your father' it came back – all of it—the phone call from Elena, finding out my real father was still dead or gone, AND that this imposter worked for…SHINRA.

"I…remember now…my fathe—that man, he worked for Shinra…" a slow pause and silence on his behalf

My head snapped back up and I glared at him. "So then why did you do it? Save me – a witness who could blow your cover to high hell? Huh? Why risk it? What's one more life in the eyes of Shinra?!?" I knew I had gone too far but I couldn't stop – nor could I stop the hot tears that started to roll down my cheeks.

And what most surprised me—more than my 'dad' being a traitorous bastard from Shinra, the fact that Rufus _Shinra_ had saved me from a guy FROMShinra, that I was alive despite being shot twice, and that I was OKAY with Rufus being the savior, was that even though I had just said all of those awful things, Rufus wasn't mad or upset with himself or me especially considering what I had said.

Instead, he was quite the opposite – he took me in his arms and held me gently, but still firmly. And the maybe the most surprising of everything that had happened lately, I fell into his chest, letting him hold me all the while, and broke down, and let me tell you, I do _not_ break down easy.

As totally embarrassing as it is, I fell asleep crying in _his_ arms – the big, bad Rufus Shinra – and not only that…but I think I might have LIKED it…I must have hit the ground pretty hard after I got shot…

**RUFUS' POV**

He sighed quietly as he laid the now sleeping Tifa down in the bed, covering her with the white blankets. Even as he stood up and quietly exited the room, the smell of her lingered around and on him and he smiled – a private secret smile that belonged solely to Tifa. _She's alright…looks like she'll be fine now…I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't made it in time…_

And even has he walked down the hospital hall, confused by the light, fluttering sensation deep within his chest, Rufus beyond all other things felt relief.

And for once in his lonely existence, Rufus unknowingly felt the happiness of growing relationship with another person – someone to take care of and to love that will do the same in turn.

**CLOUD'S POV**

_SLAM!!_

Cloud banged his fist down onto his desk sending the last of his books and papers to fall about scattered on the floor. "DAMN!!!!!" Cloud heard the desk groan and creak under the tremendous pressure of his strong fist, but he didn't stop – he was too angry to care about some stupid desk.

"Just when I had her too! I'm such an idiot!!! Rufus probably arranged the whole thing!! Rufus probably had that guy come in just so he could pretend to Tifa's dad … and shoot her…so RUFUS COULD LOOK LIKE THE HERO!!" Suddenly realizing how brilliant this glorious lie could be, Cloud felt the anger ebb away, and malicious determination engulf him.

"I'm brilliant!" Cloud murmured pretentiously under his breath while recollecting his things. After setting everything back in its proper place, Cloud began to think slowly.

He sat sluggishly down in his seat to find a way to approach his newly formed plan "I have to have her find out …but I can't be the one to tell her – that would seem REALLY suspicious… hmmm"

Cloud pondered this for several minutes before deciding his plan. He needed someone close to Tifa find out and tells her – someone big into knowing rumors and gossip. And suddenly it came to him. He knew just the just the person—Yuffie, the supposed gossip queen of the school. He smirked widely.

"Goodbye Rufus, hello Cloud…" And with that, Cloud walked out of the classroom with his bag packed, ready to set his plan into action.

"Hey have you _heard_ what Rufus supposedly did…"

_To be continued..._

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